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HALLUCINATIONS: 


THE  RATIONAL   HISTORY 


APPARITIONS,  VISIONS,  DREAMS,  ECSTASY,  MAGNETISM, 
AND  SOMNAMBULISM. 


BY 


A.   BRIERRE   DE   BOISMONT, 

DOCTEUE  EN  MÉDECINE  DE  LA  FACULTÉ  DE  PARIS,  DIRECTEUR  D'UN  ÉTABLISSEMENT 

d'aliénés,  CHEVALIER  DES  ORDRES  DE  LA  LÉGION  D'hONNEUR  ET  DU  MÉRITE 

MILITAIRE    DE    POLOGNE,    LAURÉAT    DE    L'iNSTITUT    ET    DE    l'aCADÉMIE 

NATIONALE  DE  MÉDECINE,  MEMBRE  DE  PLUSIEURS  SOCIÉTÉS 

SAVANTES,    ETC.  ETC.  ETC. 


FIRST    AMERICAN, 

jFrom  tt£  Stconù  iSnlar^fïr  anîr  ïmproStïr  ^aris  îSÎJitîon. 


PHILADELPHIA: 

LINDSAY    AND    BLAKISTON. 

1853. 


Entered  according  to  the  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1853,  by 

LINDSAY  AND  BLAKISTON, 

in  the  Office  of  the  Clerk  of  the  District  Court  of  the  United  States  in  and 
for  the  Eastern  District  of  Pennsylvania. 


PIITLADELPniA: 
T.  K.  AND  P    G.  COLLINS,  PRINTERS. 


Libraiy 

c26D 


B7éi>i 


teanslato:r^s  preface 


The  higlily  interesting  subjects  discussed  in  this  volume, 
written  by  a  very  distinguished  French  physician,  have  seemed 
to  demand  a  careful  translation,  in  order  that  its  usefulness  may 
be  more  generally  diffused. 

One  of  the  principal  propositions  which  the  talented  author  ^  . 
has  undertaken  to  prove  is,  that  hallucination  is  not  a  necessary  ^;  - 
accompaniment  or  symptom  of  'insanity,  but  that  in  certain 
cases  it  may  be  considered  as  a  purely  physiological  phenome- 
non. He  insists  on  the  necessity  of  establishing  an  intimate 
union  between  philosophy  and  medicine  ;  especially  in  the  treat- 
ment of  mental  diseases.  "  Psychological  facts,"  he  argues, 
"  cannot  be  placed  on  the  same  line  with  sensible  facts.  The 
brain  may  be  the  seat,  but  is  not  the  creator  of  intellectual 
operations.     Ideas  pre-exist  their  sensible  signs." 

"Does  not,"  he  argues,  "the  analysis  of  different  kinds  of 
delirium  afford  a  solid  and  experimental  basis  to  metaphysics  ? 
And  is  not  the  study  of  mysticism  indispensable  for  the  correct 
appreciation  of  mental  alienation?" 

M.  Brierre  de  Boismont  treats  the  important  and  hitherto 
neglected  subject  of  hallucination  in  various  points  of  view,  in- 
asmuch as  it  bears  important  relations  to  philosophy,  medicine, 
religion,  history,  morality,  and  jurisprudence.  The  apparitions 
of  Holy  Writ  are  handled  with  the  reverence  befitting  a  Christ- 
ian, whilst  much  light  is  thrown  on  the  probable  origin  of  the 
hallucinations  of  many  celebrated  personages  whose  characters 
and  actions  were  so  exalted  as  to  place  them  apparently  above 
humanity. 

The  book  will  offer  attractions  to  many  classes  of  readers. 
The  theologian  will  admire  the  vein  of  reverence  and  morality 
which  pervades  it  ;  the  philosopher  will  find  much  food  for  study 


(iySBGS 


IV  TRANSLATOR  S  PREFACE. 

and  contemplation  ;  the  practical  physician  will  avail  himself  of 
the  knowledge  and  experience  detailed  in  a  great  variety  of 
cases  ;  the  lawyer  will  be  deeply  impressed  by  the  necessity  of 
vigilance,  and  a  close  study  of  the  case,  before  he  gives  in  his 
verdict  of  insanity  ;  while  the  lover  of  the  marvellous  will  find 
ample  food  for  the  gratification  of  his  taste,  in  the  number  of 
strange  and  picturesque  authenticated  facts  thus  carefully  col- 
lected. 


PEEPACE. 


A  PHILOSOPHICAL  physician  said,  in  speaking  of  the  first  edi- 
tion of  this  work  :  "  If  the  author  had  been  satisfied  to  treat 
the  vast  question  of  hallucinations  as  medical  men  usually  treat 
a  question  of  pathology,  the  medical  press  would  have  announced 
his  monograph  according  to  custom,  with  simple  praises  and 
very  inofi"ensive  criticisms  ;  medical  science  would  have  num- 
bered one  more  good  work,  and  so  the  matter  would  have  ended. 
But  such  has  not  been  the  case.  M.  Brierre  de  Boismont,  in 
giving  a  less  scholastic  turn  to  his  treatise,  and  introducing 
questions  of  historic  psychology,  has  succeeded  in  electrifying 
both  the  press  and  the  public.  Thence  have  arisen  those  warm 
eulogies  which  have  appeared  in  excellent  journals,  unconnected 
with  medicine  ;  thence  those  keen,  but  polite  criticisms  which 
have  been  impartially  received  in  a  scientific  magazine.  It 
appears  to  me  that  this  is  a  great  triumph.  It  is  no  easy  matter 
to  make  the  chords  of  contemporary  criticism,  in  general  so  slack, 
thus  vibrate.  The  success  is  still  greater,  if  a  similar  result 
has  been  obtained  in  defending  the  cause  of  truth  and  common 
sense."* 

This  opinion  strikes  more  forcibly  as  emanating  from  one 
whose  judgment  on  such  points  is  incontestable,  and  as  being 
an  immediate  reply  to  attacks  directed  against  our  opinions  in 
two  highly  esteemed  journals.  Let  us,  then,  assert  that  if  the 
identity  of  lunacy  and  hallucination  has  been  contended  for  by 
eminent  doctors,  the  doctrine  that  we  have  advocated,  of  the  co- 
existence  of  reason  with  hallucinations,  has  been  embraced  and 
defended  by  very  celebrated  writers  of  the  medical  press — 
Messrs.  Réveillé,  Parise,  Carrière,  Cerise,  Amedée  Latour, 
Dechambre,  Gouraud,  Tardieu,  Fuster,  Miguel  in  France,  Sig- 
mond  in  England,  Ideler  in  Germany,  etc.    Two  authors,  Messrs. 

*  Cerise,  Examen  des  Hallucinations. 


VI  PREFACE. 

Michéa  and  Szafkowski,  wlio  have  published,  since  myself,  ex- 
cellent works  on  hallucinations,  have  also  acknowledged  that 
they  might  exist  with  sanity.  Finally,  M.  Falret  has  expressed 
a  similar  opinion  in  his  course  of  mental  maladies.  To  these 
scientific  authorities  may  be  added  the  names  of  Victor  Cousin, 
George  Sand,  and  Lamartine,  who  have  maintained  similar  opin- 

t-T^  The  first  position  then  of  this  book  is  clearly  established.  "We 
1  have  protested  against  the  hypothesis  which  would  make  hallu- 
1  cination  a  constant  symptom  of  lunacy;  and  have  demonstrated 
^  by  the  axioms  of  science  alone  that,  in  certain  cases,  it  may 
I  be  considered  as  a  phenomenon  purely  physiological.  Attack- 
5  ing  the  very  heart  of  the  subject,  our  object  has  been  to  combat 
':  the  doctrine  that  would  refer  intellectual  and  moral  acts  to  the 
J  pathological  state  of  the  organs. 

We  have  been  blamed  for  introducing  philosophy  into  medi- 
cine. "  A  vast  abyss,  it  is  said,  separates  philosophical  ques- 
tions from  those  of  practical  and  experimental  medicine  ;  the 
understanding,  the  mind,  the  soul,  must  be  left  where  this  prin- 
ciple should  rest.  The  physician  who  would  be  useful  and 
practical,  must  only  study  the  organs,  their  functions,  the  laws 
or  the  forces  which  regulate  or  disturb  their  action  ;  in  short, 
there  is  no  advantage  in  introducing  spiritualism  into  medicine; 
because  spiritualism,  the  object  of  faith,  of  feeling,  of  internal 
conviction,  can  neither  be  understood  nor  proved  by  human 
reason,  and  it  is  imprudent  to  submit  it  to  such  a  criterion." 

If  a  preface  offered  a  field  for  discussion,  I  should  inquire 
what  is  meant  by  laws  and  forces  which  regulate  or  disturb  the 
action  of  the  organs  ;  but  the  question  has  too  vast  a  range.  To 
us,  as  to  millions,  man  is  an  intelligence  served  by  organs  ;  to 
account  only  for  the  latter,  would  be  to  tear  a  quill  from  the 
pinion  of  spiritual  activity.  If  there  be  one  branch  of  medicine 
in  which  this  opinion  would  offer  the  strangest  paradox,  without 
doubt  it  is  that  of  mental  diseases.  They  incessantly  oblige 
the  physician  to  resort  to  the  most  difficult  metaphysical  pro- 
blems, unless,  like  a  celebrated  scholar,  he  masters  the  difficulty 
of  psychological  facts,  by  considering  them  as  a  secretion  of  the 
brain.  Have  the  consequences  of  such  a  doctrine  been  well 
considered  ?  If  man  be  but  like  other  animals,  this  doctrine 
does  not  alone  apply  to  derangements  of  mind  ;  it  has  results 


PREFACE.  Vil 

■which  touch  closely  on  the  general  interests  of  society.  But  these 
consequences,  says  an  esteemed  writer,  lead  to  such  deplorable 
extremes,  that  one  is  sometimes  tempted  to  doubt  the  power  of 
human  reason,  and  involuntarily  to  inquire  if  the  first  of  animals 
be  not  destined,  like  all  the  others,  blindly  to  obey  a  superior 
force,  instead  of  endeavoring  to  found  for  himself  his  laws  of 
conduct  and  his  institutions. 

We  therefore  consider  ourselves  following  out  the  truth,  in 
maintaining  the  necessity  of  allying  philosophy  and  medicine, 
especially  in  mental  maladies.  Acknowledged  partisans  of  the 
princijDle  of  human  duality,  we  reject  the  opinion  which  can  only 
see  in  lunacy  a  pure  and  simple  nervousness,  like  chorea,  hys- 
teria, and  epilepsy  ;  and  in  reason  the  product  of  a  physiological 
action  entirely  material.  To  us,  ideas  have  a  different  nature  from 
sensations.  Psychological  facts  cannot  be  placed  on  the  same 
line  with  those  that  affect  the  senses.  Although  the  brain  may 
be  the  seat  of  intellectual  operations,  it  is  not  the  creator  of 
them.  The  notion  of  the  idea  exists  before  that  of  its  represen- 
tation, which  we  think  M.  Ferdinand  Berthier  has  clearly  proved 
in  his  analysis  of  the  faculties  of  the  deaf  and  dumb. 

The  intervention  of  philosophy  in  medicine  is  incessantly  ob- 
servable. See  how  a  false  idea  wanders  on  the  confines  of 
reason  and  madness  ;  and  although  its  true  nature  may  be  appre- 
ciated, does  it  not  involve  the  most  interesting  and  delicate 
questions  on  the  existence  of' hallucination  with  the  integrity  of 
the  faculties,  on  its  proper  position  in  the  production  of  mental 
diseases  ? 

Does  not  the  analysis  of  the  different  kinds  of  delirium  pre- 
sent a  solid  and  experimental  foundation  to  metaphysics?  Is 
not  the  study  of  mysticism  an  indispensable  preparation  to  the 
study  of  derangement,  by  tracing  in  a  picturesque  and  special 
style  the  most  delicate  changes  in  the  understanding  and  in  the 
heart  ?  Do  not  the  enchainment  of  laws  and  ideas,  the  various 
evolutions  of  the  operations  of  mind,  its  sudden  increase  of 
pow.er,  the  awakening  of  unknown  faculties,  the  return  of  reason 
in  many  lunatics  on  the  approach  of  death,  presentiments,  fore- 
sight, known  facts  of  magnetism  and  somnambulism,  border  on 
most  profound  mysteries  of  the  soul  ?  And  what  have  the 
organs  to  do  with  these  curious  phenomena,  if  not  to  serve  as 


YIU  PREFACE. 

their  theatre  ?     But  what  would  they  be  if  the  workman  did  not 
direct  all  the  threads  ? 

Does  not  the  view  of  great  minds  contending  with  madness, 
and  which  offer  a  constant  subject  for  meditation,  induce  a  cease- 
less examination  of  those  high  spiritual  questions  which  are  de- 
clared useless  in  medicine?  Truly  has  a  modern  author  said  : 
"  The  day  when  philosophy  shall  descend  with  her  torch  to  the 
study  of  mental  affections,  she  will  find  an  ample  range  for  novel 
observations.  As  in  a  ruined  city,  monuments  are  here  and 
there  discovered,  which  show  traces  of  the  genius  of  an  extinct 
nation;  so  in  the  great  ravages  of  madness,  evidences  are  every- 
where perceived  amidst  the  ruin  of  the  faculties,  of  that  immor- 
tal principle  which  animates  them."  To  this  authority  we  can 
add  that  of  Descartes,  who  asserts  that  to  medicine  we  shall  owe 
discoveries  destined  to  extend  the  domain  of  philosophy. 

Since  the  fundamental  condition  of  a  serious  book  is  to  be 
complete  in  itself,  it  can  easily  be  understood  why  we  have  boldly 
approached  philosophical  problems.  Had  we  been  content  sim- 
ply to  state  facts,  and  thence  timidly  draw  conclusions,  we  might 
have  been  placed  on  firmer  ground,  and  have  created  more  cer- 
tain advantages  ;  but  we  are  convinced  that  our  book  would 
have  presented  numerous  hiatuses,  if  we  had  not  grappled  un- 
hesitatingly with  the  exigencies  of  our  subject.  We  are  aware 
that  men  who  are  accustomed  to  close  their  eyes  to  whatsoever  is 
not  a  material  fact,  will  condemn"  this  attempt,  and  will  even 
go  as  far  as  to  assert  that  imagination  has  driven  reason  off  the 
road.  We  appeal  to  enlightened  physicians,  who  see  beyond 
that  first  step  which  forms  the  material  part  of  science.  These 
will  perhaps  say  that  we  are  deceived  ;  but  they  will  at  least  do 
us  the  justice  to  acknowledge  that  we  have  not  been  prevented 
by  the  fear  of  error  from  seeking  truth  wherever  it  might  be 
found. 

This  preamble  was  necessary  to  initiate  the  reader  in  the  in- 
tention of  this  work.  Destined  to  exhibit  one  of  the  most  curi- 
ous phenomena  of  human  psychology,  mentioned  in  many  sacred 
and  profane  authors,  it  could  not,  in  our  opinion,  be  composed 
only  of  a  series  of  medical  observations. 

In  fact,  the  question  of  hallucinations,  medically  considered, 
offers  a  large  field  of  research  ;  but  we  do  not  think  that  it 
should  be  confined  within  these  limits.     This  subject  verges  on 


PREFACE.  IX 

all  that  is  most  elevated  in  the  Avorkl.  Religious  dogmas,  his- 
story,  philosophy,  morality,  are  intimately  connected  with  its 
study.  If  all  hallucinations  were  to  be  ranked  as  mere  flights 
of  delirious  imagination,  the  sacred  books  would  be  but  an  error; 
Christianity,  that  powerful  mainspring  of  social  and  individual 
perfection,  an  error  ;  the  belief  of  our  fathers,  our  own,  that  of 
our  children,  all  errors.  "And  yet,"  says  a  celebrated  writer, 
"  there  are  problems  in  human  nature,  whose  solution  is  not  of 
this  world — problems  which  must  defy  the  mind  that  strives 
to  explain  them  ;  there  is  a  morality  that  seeks  a  sanction,  an 
origin,  and  an  end  ;  so  many  fruitful  sources  to  prove  that  reli- 
gion is  a  necessity,  not  a  simple  form  of  sensibility,  a  transport 
of  imagination,  or  a  poetic  fantasy. 

The  religious  side  of  the  question  could  no  more  escape  criti- 
cism than  the  philosophical  view  of  it;  so  that  we  have  also 
been  attacked  on  that  point.  We  will  make  but  one  observation; 
we  have  never  had  the  singular  notion  of  making  this  book  one 
of  theology  ;  but  full  of  respect  for  the  creeds  which  have 
thrown  so  bright  a  refulgence  on  the  world,  to  which  humanity 
owes  its  greatest  conquests,  and  which  can  alone  save  it  from 
the  abyss,  we  cannot  keep  silence  when  we  hear  them  loudly 
proclaimed  as  the  lucubrations  of  diseased  brains.  All  is  united 
in  the  edifice  of  religion  and  morality;  one  brick  cannot  be 
displaced,  without  overthrowing  the  whole  building.  We  have 
therefore  been  particular  in  afiirming  that  a  very  decided  line 
of  separation  ought  to  be  established  between  the  apparitions  of 
Holy  Writ,  and  the  hallucinations  of  profane  writers,  and  even 
of  many  Christian  characters  ;  the  former,  in  our  opinion,  can 
only  be  referred  to  divine  power,  whilst  a  number  of  the  latter 
are  consequent  on  a  particular  state  of  the  brain,  on  the  pre- 
vailing ideas  of  the  time,  or  on  the  derangement  of  the  cerebral 
functions. 

In  support  of  the  doctrine  we  advocate  on  the  character  of 
the  sacred  books,  we  will  make  a  quotation  from  a  discourse, 
delivered  by  M.  Guizot,  at  a  public  meeting  of  the  Bible 
Society  : — 

"What  is  the  grand  question,  the  chief  question  that  just 
now  occupies  all  minds  ?  It  is  a  question  lying  between  those 
who  recognize,  and  those  who  deny  a  supernatural  order,  certain 
and    sovereign,  although  impenetrable  to  human  reason  ;    the 


X  PREFACE. 

question  being  (to  call  tilings  by  their  right  names),  between 
supernaturalism  and  rationalism.  On  the  one  side  the  incredu- 
lous, pantheists,  skeptics  of  all  degrees,  pure  rationalists  ;  on 
the  other  side  Christians. 

"  Amongst  the  former,  the  better  kind  allow  the  existence  ii5 
the  world  and  in  the  soul  of  a  statue  of  God,  if  such  an  expres- 
sion may  be  permitted,  but  a  statue  only,  an  image  in  marble. 
God  himself  is  not  there  ;  the  Christian  alone  has  a  living 
God. 

"It  is  a  living  God  that  we  need.  It  is  necessary  for  our 
present  and  future  salvation,  that  faith  in  the  supernatural, 
respect  and  submission  to  the  supernatural  should  live  in  the 
world  and  in  the  human  soul  ;  in  great,  as  in  simple  minds  ;  in 
the  highest,  as  in  the  lowliest  stations.  The  real,  efficacious, 
and  regenerating  influence  of  religious  creeds,  rests  on  this  con- 
dition ;  without  it,  they  are  superficial,  and  wellnigh  useless. 

"  The  sacred  books  are  the  sources  whence  this  sublime  truth 
is  received  and  its  empire  established.  They  are  the  history  of 
the  supernatural  order  ;  the  history  of  Deity  in  man  and  in  the 
world. 

"And  be  not  disturbed  at  the  difficulty  of  the  work,  the 
small  number  of  actual  believers,  nor  at  the  vast  number  of 
those  who  neither  believe  nor  care.  The  difficulty  and  the 
number  of  adversaries  was  still  greater  when  Christianity  first 
appeared  on  earth.  There  is  more  power  in  one  grain  of  faith, 
than  in  mountains  of  doubt  and  indifference."* 

The  actual  doctrine  of  hallucinations  is,  besides,  in  direct 
opposition  to  a  sentiment  innate  in  man,  which  makes  him  fling 
away  an  hypothesis,  the  principle  of  which  is  that,  for  six  thou- 
sand years,  he  has  been  the  puppet  of  illusions.  Truth  is  eter- 
nal; it  has  shone  since  the  appearance  of  man  on  earth,  and 
ceases  not  at  this  moment  to  enlighten  him.  Scientific  systems 
may  change  ;  but  there  are  ideas  and  principles  fixed  on  the 
immovable  basis  of  immutability. 

The  doctrine  of  hallucinations  is  not  less  afflicting  in  a 
human  point  of  view.  What  more  painful  and  distressing,  in 
fact,  than  to  pretend  that  the  sublimest  opinions,  the  greatest 
enterprises,  the  noblest  acts,  have  been  taught  or  done  by  mad- 

*  Débats,  of  the  let  of  May,  1851. 


PREFACE.  XI 

men  under  hallucinations,  adding,  as  a  corrective,  "wliat  matters 
the  means,  so  the  end  be  obtained  ?  Will  not  history  and  rea- 
son agree,  in  protesting  against  the  madness  of  Socrates,  of 
Luther,  of  Joan  of  Arc,  of  George  Fox,  and  of  many  others  ? 

Of  what  nature,  then,  it  may  be  asked,  were  the  hallucinations 
of  these  celebrated  personages  ?  They  depended  on  a  complex 
influence;  they  proceeded  at  once  from  the  tribute  paid  by  these 
choice  spirits  to  the  beliefs  of  the  times,  to  that  ecstatic  cha- 
racter which  the  struggles  of  the  soul  impart  to  ideas,  and, 
finally,  to  the  natural  organization  ;  for,  as  M.  de  Saint  Beuve 
justly  remarks,  it  is  too  frequently  forgotten  that  every  one  has 
his  peculiar  humor  in  his  philosophy  and  in  his  theology.  Pas- 
cal had  an  unquiet  and  melancholy  humor,  thence  his  visionary 
views.  Bossuet  had  a  calm  humor,  thence  partly  arose  the 
serenity  of  his  views;  and  that  independently  of  the  greatness 
of  their  minds,  and  the  nature  of  their  ideas.* 

No  serious  comparison  can  be  made  between  the  hallucinations 
of  those  famous  men  and  those  of  the  visionaries  of  our  day. 
There,  enterprises  conceived,  carried  out,  consummated  with  all 
the  power  of  reason,  the  train  of  facts,  the  force  of  genius, 
and  with  whom  the  hallucination  was  but  an  auxiliary  ;  here, 
projects  without  connection,  without  aim,  without  fact,  and 
always  stamped  with  insanity. 

But  it  may  be  said.  How  does  it  happen  that  this  species  of 
hallucination  has  disappeared  in  our  day  ?  Here  is  a  reply  to 
the  query  :  to  be  hallucinated  in  this  manner  needs  profound 
conviction,  intense  belief,  extreme  love  of  humanity  ;  to  live  in 
the  midst  of  a  society  partaking  of  the  same  belief,  and  willing,  in 
case  of  necessity,  to  die  for  it.  Then  they  walked  with  the  age. 
Where  are  new  creeds  ?  Where  are  the  martyrs  ?  What  voice 
governs  the  world  ?  Every  one  lives  for  himself  and  in  himself. 
Skepticism  has  gained  all  classes.  Generous  devotedness  excites 
a  smile.  Material  happiness  is  the  motto.  It  will  be  allowed 
that  such  a  disposition  of  mind  is  little  favorable  to  enthusiasm 
and  great  enterprises. f 

We  know  that  there  have  been  in  religion,  in  morals,  and  in 

*  Of  Saint  Bevue,  Pascal's  Thoughts.  Thoughts  on  Two  Worlds,  July, 
1844. 

f  From  not  having  a  proper  understanding  of  the  value  of  words,  men 
attribute  opinions  to  others  which  they  do  not  hold. 


XU  PREFACE. 

history,  men,  dupes  of  their  imaginations  and  their  ignorance, 
who  have  desired  to  impose  their  reveries  on  others.  It  is  one 
of  the  accidents  of  humanity,  which  is  too  easily  drawn  into 
error  ;  amongst  these,  many  were  deceived  without  being  mad- 
men. It  was  with  them,  as  with  thousands  of  men,  who,  in  the 
most  civihzed  countries,  adopted  superstitious  ideas,  without 
being  less  capable  of  regulating  their  lives. 

Ambition  has  doubtless  made  blâmable  use  of  hallucinations. 
Who  would  deny  it  ?  That  visions  and  apparitions  have  been 
feigned  by  impostors  is  incontrovertible.  But  to  all  who  have 
studied  the  question,  the  fraud  is  so  easily  discovered  that  we 
shall  not  even  attempt  a  refutation. 

In  following  out  these  researches,  we  have  had  two  objects  ; 
the  one,  to  protest  against  the  doctrines  we  believe  are  contrary 
to  truth  ;  the  other,  to  write  an  historical  and  medical  history 
of  hallucinations. 

It  would  appear  impossible  that  such  a  programme  should  be 
otherwise  than  favorably  noticed  by  the  critic,  or  not  meet  with 
general  sympathy. 

We  have  but  one  word  to  add  ;  it  relates  to  particular  facts  ; 
we  have  deduced  them  from  our  own  practice,  or  borrowed  them 
from  the  most  reliable  authors,  always  being  careful  to  acknow- 
ledge their  source,  to  translate  them  ourselves  from  the  originals, 
and  to  select  amongst  them  the  most  interesting  and  the  least 
known.  Their  authenticity  has  been  generally  proved  as  many 
of  them  have  been  made  public.  Little  inclined  to  unite  in  a 
spirit  of  rivalry,  or  in  the  conspiracy  of  silence  against  modern 
authors,  we  have  not  hesitated  to  borrow  for  this  new  edition 
such  remarks  and  observations  as  have  appeared  to  us  to  throw 
new  light  on  our  subject,  and  we  believe  that  the  choice  we  have 
made  will  add  greatly  to  the  interest  of  the  book. 


CONTENTS. 


INTRODUCTION ■     .       17 

CHAPTER    I. 

DEFINITION  AND  DIVISION  OF  HALLUCINATIONS. 

Importance  of  the  study  of  hallucinations — Definition  of  authors — Outline  of  the 
principal  classifications — Character  of  the  one  presented  by  the  author  .       31 

CHAPTER    II. 

'HALLUCINATIONS  CONSISTENT  WITH  REASON. 

Influence  of  reverie  in  the  production  of  hallucinations — Distinctions  to  be  esta- 
blished— On  the  reverie  of  Orientals — Belief  in  the  supernatural — 1.  Recognized, 
spontaneous,  ephemeral,  and  prolonged  hallucinations  ;  2.  Unrecognized  hallu- 
cinations— Causes  of  hallucinations — Observations  borrowed  from  historical 
personages — Their  importance — Recapitulation 40 

CHAPTER    III. 

HALLUCINATIONS  OF  INSANITY  IN  ITS  SIMPLE  STATE. 

Section  I. — Simple  isolated  hallucinations — Their  action  on  the  mind — Profound 
conviction  of  the  hallucinated — Loss  of  the  senses  no  obstacle  to  hallucina- 
tions— Cases — Of  hallucination  of  hearing  by  deaf  persons — Hallucinations,  in- 
ternal and  external,  isolated  or  combined — Hallucination  of  the  sight — Visions — 
Visionaries — Belief  in  apparitions — These  hallucinations  vary  like  those  of 
hearing — Hallucinations  in  weakness  or  loss  of  sight — The  hallucinated  be- 
lieve they  can  see  inside  their  bodies,  a  power  analogous  to  that  possessed 
by  persons  magnetized — Hallucinations  of  sight  and  hearing  combined — Hallu- 
cination of  the  touch — Difficulties  of  diagnosis — Certain  tactile  hallucinations 


J 


XIV  CONTENTS. 

referable  to  hypocliondriacal  illusions — Hallucinatmis  of  smell  and  taste,  as  rare 

as  the  preceding — Hallucinations  rarely  unconnected  with  one  of  the  forms  of 

insanity — Very  common  in  madness  and  several  other  diseases — Recapitulation. 

Section  II. — General  hallucinations — Recapitulation  ....       76 


CHAPTER    IV. 

ON  HALLUCINATIONS  AS  CONNECTED  WITH  ILLUSIONS. 

Frequency  of  illusions — Opinions  relative  to  the  errors  of  the  senses— Charac- 
teristics by  ■which  illusions  and  hallucinations  are  distinguished — Opinions  of 
MM.  Calmeil,  Aubanel,  and  Decliambre  ;  their  concurrence — Peculiar  charac- 
teristics of  illusions — Internal  hallucinations  allied  with  sensations  of  hypo- 
chondriacs— Illusions  are  observed  both  in  a  healthy  and  a  morbid  state — 
Illusions  of  hearing  and  of  sight — Causes — Illusions  of  sight  sometimes  epi- 
demic— Aerial  illusions — Causes  of  public  illusions — Illusions  of  hearing — 
Motives  for  the  chapter — Illusions  may  precede,  accompany,  or  succeed 
hallucinations — Illusions  may  be  isolated  or  general — Illusions  very  capricious — 
Illusions,  like  hallucinations,  may  induce  the  commission  of  reprehensible  acts — 
Illusions  of  the  touch,  of  the  smell,  of  the  taste — Their  influence  on  the  con- 
duct of  madmen — Illusions  almost  always  accompany  haUucinatious — Reca- 
pitulation       ............     103 


CHAPTER   V. 

HALLUCINATIONS  ARRANGED  IN  THE  ORDER  OF  THEIR  FREQUENCY. 

The  varieties  of  monomania  with  which  they  most  generally  unite — Observations 
on  Ij'pemania — Hallucinations  are  a  reflex  of  the  habits  of  the  insane — Ob- 
servations on  demonology  of  the  incubus — Nature  of  sexual  hallucinations — 
Observations  on  nostalgia — Observations  on  calentui'a — Recapitulation     .     119 


CHAPTER    VI. 

ON  HALLUCINATIONS  IN  STUPOR. 

The  greater  number  of  persons  afl"ected  with  stupor  have  hallucinations  and  illu- 
sions— Symptomatology — Arrangement  of  hallucinations  and  illusions  in  some 
patients — Cases  of  stupor — Remarks  on  this  malady — Recapitulation       .     135 


CONTENTS.  XV 


CHAPTER    VII. 


ON  HALLUCINATIONS  IN  MANIA. 


On  the  frequency  of  hallucinations  in  mania — Why  ? — Abstract  of  hallucinations 
in  mania — Cases — Observations  on  the  inclination  to  steal — Progress  of  hallu- 
cinations— Hallucinations  may  be  symptomatic — Remarks  on  the  influence  of 
the  sexual  organs — Hallucinations  in  puerperal  mania — Effects  of  hallucina- 
tions and  illusions  on  maniacs — Recapitulation 141 

CHAPTER    VIII. 

ON  HALLUCINATIONS  IN  DEMENTIA. 

Section  I. — Hallucinations  more  frequent  in  dementia  than  is  generally  sup- 
posed— To  what  may  the  fact  be  attributed — Division  of  dementia  into  mono- 
maniac and  maniac,  complete  and  senile — Abstract  of  hallucinations  in  dementia 
— Case  of  monomaniac  dementia — Case  of  maniac  dementia — Difficulty  of  dis- 
tinguishing the  shades  of  difference — Hallucinations  may  be  of  an  intermittent 
character — Case  of  complete  dementia — Case  of  senile  dementia — Eecajntula- 
tion. 

Section  II. — Hallucinations  exist  in  dementia  with  general  paralysis — Abstract — 
Cases — Recapitulation. 

Section  III. — Hallucinations  viewed  in  relation  to  imbecility,  idiotism,  and  cre- 
tinism— They  may  exist  in  the  first,  but  they  are  never  observed  in  the  last 
two — Recapitulation 152 

CHAPTER    IX. 

OF  hallucinations  in  delirium  tremens. 

Approximative  statistics  of  cases  of  insanity,  from  the  abuse  of  intoxicating 
drink — The  illusions  and  hallucinations  to  which  inebriates  are  subject — 
Cases — Nature  of  the  hallucinations — They  may  be  attended  with  very  serious 
res\ilts — Delirium  tremens  includes  different  diseases — Drunkenness — Its  con- 
nection with  drunken  alienation — Recapitulation     .....     163 

CHAPTER    X. 

of  hallucinations  in  nertous  diseases. 

Hallucinations  in  catalepsy,  epilepsy,  hysteria,  hypochondria,  chorea,  rage,  etc. — 
Recapitulation         ...........     170 


XVI  CONTEXTS. 


CHAPTER    XI. 

OF   HALLUCINATIONS  IN  NIGHTMARE  AND  DREAMS. 

Section  I. — Hallucinations  in  nightmare — Its  analogy  to  madness — Varieties  of 
nightmare — Its  coexistence  with  reason  and  with  insanity. 

Section  II. — Hallucinations  in  dreams — Analogy  between  di-eams  and  hallucina- 
tions— Two  divisions:  physiological  dreams,  and  pathological  dreams — Psycho- 
logical condition  of  dreams — Difference  between  hallucinations  in  dreams  and 
those  of  waking  hours — Hypnagogical  hallucinations — Physiological  studies 
— Coincidence  of  dreams  with  events — Presentiments — Facts  in  supjiort  there- 
of— Persistence  of  the  intelligent  principle  in  dreams — Pathological  dreams — 
Influence  of  dominant  ideas  on  dreams — Importance  of  dreams  in  the  insane 
— Nocturnal  epidemic  hallucinations — Periodical  hallucinations — They  may 
l\ecome  permanent — Recapitulation .     182 


CHAPTER    XII. 

OF  HALLUCINATIONS  IN  ECSTASY,  MAGNETISM,  AND  SOMNAMBULISM. 

Section  I. — Ecstasy  is  very  favorable  to  hallucinations — Case — Religious  ecsta- 
sies— Times  and  circumstances  favorable  to  ecstasies — Physiological  ecstasy — 
Morbid  ecstasy — This  division  allows  the  convenient  classification  of  subjects 
of  ecstasy — Ecstatic  subjects — Ecstasies  noticed  in  children — Various  forms  of 
ecstasy;  cataleptic,  hysteric,  mystic,  maniac,  monomaniac,  and  epidemic — 
Ecstatic  sleep — The  scarred  maiden  of  the  Tyrol — Ecstatic  phenomena  have 
been  exhibited  in  all  ages — The  preaching  disease  in  Sweden — Ecstatic  hallu- 
cinations of  religious  persons. 

Section  II. — Of  foresight,  second  sight,  magnetism,  and  somnambulism,  in  con- 
nection with  hallucinations — Analogy  between  somnambulism  and  dreams — 
Of  diurnal  somnambulism — Of  moral  freedom  in  the  hallucinations  of  somnam- 
bulism.— Recapitulation 212 

CHAPTER    XIII. 

OF  HALLUCINATIONS  IN  FEBRILE,  INFLAMMATORY,  ACUTE,  CHRONIC,  AND 
OTHER  MALADIES. 

Of  hallucinations  and  illusions  in  acute  delirium  and  brain  diseases — Congestion, 
arachnites,  encéphalites,  softening  of  the  brain,  cerebro-spiual  meningitis, 
etc. — Of  hallucinations  in  fever  ;  effects  of  fever  on  the  imagination — Hallu- 
cinations in  typhoid,    typhus,    aud  intermittent  fevers  —  Hallucinations   in 


CONTENTS.  XVll 

diseases  of  the  digestive  and  biliary  passages — Parenchymatous  inflamma- 
tions may  be  combined  with  hallucinations  and  pneumonia;  hallucinations 
after  a  suppression — Hallucinations  in  gout,  disease  of  the  heart,  pellagra, 
and  chlorosis — Hallucinations  in  syncope  and  convalescence — Hallucinations 
from  atmospheric  influence — Hallucinations  may  precede  disease— Hallucina- 
tions in  the  last  stage  of  chronic  disease — Recapitulation  .         .         .     260 


CHAPTER    XIV. 

CAUSES  OF  HALLUCINATIONS. 

Etiology  of  hallucinations  and  illusions — It  should  be  sought  in  the  psychical  and 
corporeal  elements  of  man,  and  above  all  in  ideas,  in  hallucinations  of  long 
standing,  single  and  compatible  with  reason. 

FiBST  Division. — Moral  causes  ;  their  influence  on  hallucination — Statistic — Epi- 
demic hallucinations — Influence  of  dominant  ideas — Demonology,  sorcery, 
magic,  lycantrophy,  apparitions,  vampirism,  ecstasies — Influence  of  different 
civilizations — Influence  of  the  passions,  of  fixed  ideas,  of  preoccupations  of 
the  mind,  and  of  bodily  occupations. 

Second  Division. — Physical  causes. — These  may  be  subdivided  into  five  heads  : 
1.  The  influence  of  inheritance,  of  the  sexes,  of  age,  etc. — 2.  The  influence 
of  mechanical  causes,  of  fermented  liquors  and  narcotic  and  poisonous  sub- 
stances— 3.  The  influence  of  mental  diseases — 4.  The  influence  of  nervous  dis- 
eases other  than  insanity — 5.  The  influence  of  acute,  chronic,  and  other  dis- 
eases— Recapitulation     ..........     282 

CHAPTER,    XV. 

ON  hallucinations  considered  in  a  psychological,  historical,  and 

RELIGIOUS  POINT  OF  VIEW. 

DiflFerence  of  the  psychology  of  hallucinations,  as  dependent  on  soundness  of 
mind  or  insanity — Incitements  to  madness — Introduction  of  physiology  into  his- 
tory— The  philosophy  of  history  contrary  to  this  doctrine — Development  of  sen- 
sorial impressions  in  the  brain  ;  the  change  which  they  undergo — Hallucinations 
difi"er  according  to  the  character  of  individuals — A  few  words  on  the  nature  and 
seat  of  hallucinations — Influence  of  the  nervous  and  sanguine  systems — Of  the 
nature  of  ideas — Division  of  ideas  into  spiritual  and  sensual — The  second 
alone  furnish  materials  for  hallucinations — Influence  of  attention,  comparison, 
imagination,  memory,  and  association,  on  the  mechanism  of  hallucination — Cor- 
poreity of  spiritual  ideas  caused  by  the  abuse  of  abstraction — Apparitions  of 
Cassius,  Brutus,  and  Julian — Hallucinations  do  not  alone  borrow  their  mate- 
rials from  actual  ideas;  they  are  also  reminiscences  of  old  and  erroneous 
B 


xviii        /  CONTENTS. 

impressions — The  origin  of  false  ideas  may  be  found  in  a  forgctfulness  of  the 
knowledge  of  God  and  of  self — In  many  cases,  hallucination  is  almost  a  normal 
state,  which  explains  why  so  many  celebrated  men  have  been  attacked  by  it, 
without  becoming  insane — Historical  hallucinations  show  themselves  first  in 
persons  collectively  ;  secondly  individually — Examples  of  Loyola,  Luther,  Joan 
of  Arc,  and  G.  Fox — Each  of  these  characters  may  be  looked  on  as  the  per- 
sonification of  an  epoch,  a  useful  idea — Their  hallucinations  do  not,  in  general, 
offer  any  analogy  to  those  of  the  present  time,  which  are  more  or  less  com- 
bined with  madness — Li  every  celebrated  man  there  is  a  spiritual  character 
(history),  and  a  mortal  character  (biography) — Many  hallucinations  are  those^ 
of  the  age,  not  of  the  individual — A  line  of  division  ought  to  be  established 
between  the  apparitions  of  Holy  Writ  and  the  hallucinations  of  profane 
history,  and  even  those  of  many  Christians — Recapitulation    .         .         .     351 


CHAPTER    XVI. 

PHYSIOLOGY  AND  SYMPTOMATOLOGY  OF  HALLUCINATIONS  AND  ILLUSIONS. 

Of  psychical  and  psycho-sensorial  hallucinations — The  interposition  of  the 
senses — Intellectual  and  sensorial  phenomena  of  hallucinations  of  sight  and 
hearing — Statistics — Double-sighted  hallucination — Phenomena  of  hallucina- 
tions of  smell,  taste,  touch,  and  general  sensitiveness — Manner  of  the  associa- 
tions of  hallucinations — Periods  favorable  to  the  production  of  hallucinations — 
Hallucinations  in  dreams — Symptoms  of  illusions — Sexual  hallucinations — In- 
tellectiial  mechanism  of  hallucinations — Circumstances  favorable  to  the  pro- 
duction of  hallucinations — Of  the  hallucinatory  state — Recapitulation     .     409 


CHAPTER    XA^I. 

PATHOLOGICAL  ANATOMY. 

A  priori,  the  production  of  hallucination  not  easily  explained  by  an  anatomical 
lesion — How  account,  by  pathological  anatomy,  for  the  hallucinations  of  the 
child,  the  thinker,  and  the  poet? — Intermittence  another  objection — ^utopsy 
without  characteristic  anatomical  disorders — The  greater  number  of  physicians 
do  not  believe,  in  the  present  state  of  science,  in  any  special  known  alteration 
— The  relation  of  lesions  to  hallucinations  ofi"ers  nothing  positive — The  brain 
is  doubtless  modified;  but  its  mode  of  change  is  entirely  unknown — Recapitu- 
lation     449 


CONTENTS.  XIX 


CHAPTEE    XVIII. 

PROGRESS — DURATION — DIAGNOSIS — PROGNOSIS. 

Progress  and  continuance  —  Hallucinations  are  irregular,  remittent,  sometimes 
constant — Causes  ■which  influence  them  in  their  progress — The  peculiar  form 
which  the  madness  assumes  exercises  an  action  on  hallucinations — Intermit- 
tences— Periodical  attacks. 

Duration — Exhibits  great  differences — Varies  according  to  the  character  of  the 
hallucination. 

Diagnosis — Hallucinations  easily  discovered  "when  the  patient  speaks  of  them, 
sometimes  impossible  when  he  maintains  silence — Signs  by  which  they  may 
be  recognized — Different  characteristics  of  nocturnal  hallucinations,  somnam- 
bulism and  ecstasy — Difference  between  hallucinations  and  illusions — The  forms 
of  insanity  may  make  the  diagnosis  imcertain. 

Prognosis — Varies  according  to  the  kind — The  prognosis  modified  by  the  period 
— Different  forms  of  alienation  have  a  marked  influence — Nervous  diseases 
aggravated  by  hallucinations — Hallucinations  of  long  endurance  change  their 
nature  —  Prognosis  of  simple  and  general  hallucinations  —  Hallucinations 
acknowledged  by  the  patients  seldom  serious — The  prognosis  more  important 
in  hypochondria,  hysteria,  epilepsy,  and  certain  varieties  of  illusions. — Reca- 
pitulation                .         .     454 


CHAPTER    XIX. 

TREATMENT  OF  HALLUCINATIONS. 

Opinions  of  MM.  Esquirol,  Lelut,  and  Cabneil — Opinion  of  Leuret — Sequestration 
— Two  divisions  :  1st.  Physical  treatment — Use  of  datura  stramonium — Halluci- 
nations sometimes  suddenly  cured — Electricity — 2d.  Moral  treatment — Author's 
method — Leuret's  method — Objections — Treatment  of  hallucinations  in  the 
diseases  which  they  characterize — Recapitulation  .....     463 


CHAPTER    XX. 

OF  HALLUCINATIONS  CONSIDERED  IN  RELATION  TO  MEDICAL  JURISPRUDENCE. 

The  hallucinated  confounded  with  vagrants,  robbers,  murderers,  etc. — 1.  In- 
fluence of  hallucinations  on  the  conduct  during  waking  and  sleeping — 2.  Influ- 
ence of  illusions  under  similar  circumstances — 3.  Of  sequestration,  commission 
of  lunacy,  and  competency  to  testify — Hallucinations  causes  of  injmious  and 


XX  CONTENTS. 

dangerous  actions,  such  as  suicide,  homicide,  robbery,  arson,  challenges,  duels, 
etc. — Facts — The  occurrences  which  take  place  in  maniacal  delirium  and  in 
acute  delirium  are  often  the  results  of  hallucinations  and  illusions — Sometimes 
hallucination  is  the  real  cause  of  acts  performed  under  the  influence  of  an 
illusion — The  decisions  caused  by  hallucinations  are  sometimes  instantaneous 
— Certain  circumstances,  such  as  darkness,  etc.,  appear  to  favor  them — The 
hallucinations  of  sleep  may  occasion  crimes — Medico-legal  examination  of 
sudden  hallucinations — Instances  of  illusions  which  have  caused  crimes — The 
delirium  of  drunkards  is  very  frequently  accompanied  by  hallucinations  and 
illusions — Hallucinations  and  illusions  explain  many  actions  which  appear 
incomprehensible  ...........     499 


ON    HALLUCINATIONS. 


INTRODUCTION. 

At  every  epocli  in  the  history  of  man — in  the  most  opposite 
latitudes — under  the  most  diverse  governments — among  all  reli- 
gions— we  constantly  find  the  same  belief  in  ghosts  and  appa- 
ritions. How  has  so  universal  an  opinion  been  established?  Its 
source  must  evidently  be  sought  in  physical  organization.  In 
fact,  if  we  study  man  in  a  physiological  point  of  view,  we  per- 
ceive that  he  is  governed  by  an  irresistible  desire  for  the  un- 
known, which  most  generally  exhibits  itself  in  a  love  for  the 
marvellous.  The  savage,  who  dreams  of  the  Great  Spirit,  and 
of  boundless  huntino;-o;rounds — the  man  of  the  Middle  Afres, 
who  kneels  on  the  threshold  of  the  purgatory  of  St.  Patrick — 
the  Arab,  who  wanders  amid  the  enchanted  palaces  of  the  Thou- 
sand and  One  Nights — the  Indian,  who  is  absorbed  in  the  incar- 
nations of  Brahma — the  inhabitant  of  the  civilized  world,  who, 
while  professing  to  believe  nothing,  secretly  consults  a  pythoness, 
or  asks  of  magnetism  what  it  cannot  give — all  obey  this  one 
desire  to  believe  in  something. 

On  a  superficial  view,  we  are  surprised  that  opinions  which  so 
strongly  resemble  each  other  shovild  have  acquired  so  much  power, 
and  are  tempted  to  inquire  whether  we  are  made  up  of  error,  the 
puppets  of  illusions;  but  looking  deeper  into  the  question,  we 
perceive  that  they  are  but  a  deviation  from  the  two  great  laws 
of  our  existence — the  knowledge  of  God,  and  of  ourselves. 

History  and  tradition  agree  on  this  point,  that  man  came  from. 

the  hands  of  his  Creator  pure,  but  free.     Whilst  reason  guided. 

him,  error  and  superstition  slept  ;   but  as  soon  as  the  abuse  of 

liberty  produced  a  forgetfulness  of  his  origin,  and  of  its  inten- 

2 


18  INTRODUCTION. 

tien,  his  passions,  no  longer  restrained,  misled  liim  ;  liis  mind  be- 
came more  and  more  bewildered.  On  the  one  side,  tormented  by 
the  recollection  of  the  point  \Yhence  he  started  ;  on  the  other, 
led  away  by  imagination,  he  plunged  into  a  world  of  chimeras. 

Imagination  unceasingly  strives  to  break  the  links  which 
enchain  her  to  reason  ;  when  that  is  accomplished,  there  are  no 
fables,  no  strange  beliefs,  no  singular  illusions,  no  wild  dreams 
that  she  will  not  disseminate.  Bacon  says  we  would  rather 
believe  than  examine;  and  this  disposition  is  powerfully  shown" 
in  the  infancy  of  the  human  mind.  Few  epochs  have  been 
so  favorable  to  the  triumphs  of  the  imagination,  as  the  Mid- 
dle Ages;  all  kinds  of  fantastic  creations  seem  there  to  have 
assembled.  The  air  is  filled  with  strange  birds — the  earth  is 
overrun  with  terrible  animals — the  seas  are  peopled  with  mon- 
strous fish;  beyond  the  limits  of  the  known  world,  are  beautiful 
countries,  new  terrestrial  paradises.  Such  beliefs,  developed 
amidst  the  incursions  of  barbarians,  the  devastations  of  the  earth, 
and  the  terrors  of  the  end  of  the  world,  suggested  the  idea  of 
an  invisible  power,  which  nothing  could  resist.  Thus  prepared, 
people  listened  with  avidity  to  histories  of  spirits,  and  of  sor- 
cerers, the  reciter  frightening  himself  no  less  than  his  auditors. 
The  explanation  given  by  Malebranche,  of  the  manner  in  which 
such  opinions  obtained  credit,  appears  so  just  that  it  naturally 
merits  a  place  here.  A  herdsman  relates  the  adventures  of 
the  Sabbath,  after  supper,  to  his  wife  and  his  children.  His 
imagination  being  somewhat  exalted  by  the  fumes  of  wine,  he 
speaks  with  force  and  animation.  Doubtless,  the  Avife  and  chil- 
dren tremble  with  fear,  convinced  of  the  truth  of  all  they  have 
heard.  It  may  be  a  husband,  or  a  father,  who  speaks  of  what 
he  has  seen,  of  what  he  has  done  ;  they  love  and  respect,  why 
should  they  not  believe  him  ?  These  recitals,  deeply  graven 
on  their  memories,  accumulate;  their  fears  have  passed  away, 
but  their  convictions  remain;  finally,  curiosity  overcomes  them. 
They  anoint  themselves;  they  go  to  rest;  in  their  dreams  they 
see  the  ceremonies  of  the  Sabbath.*  On  rising,  they  relate 
their  visions  ;  they  are  resolved  on  belief,  and  he  whose  imagi- 
nation is  most  vivid  soon  arranges  the  fanciful  history  of  the 
Sabbath.     Here  we  have  at  once  sorcerers  created  by  the  herds- 

*  The  fact  of  the  ointment  is  here  verified. 


INTRODUCTION.  19 

man,  and  they  will  make  a  host  of  others,  unless  fear  prevents 
their  reciting  similar  stories. 

Such,  in  fact,  is  the  origin  of  a  multitude  of  errors.  Once 
admitted,  they  are  repeated,  then  systematized,  then  reduced  to 
doctrines,  which  are  introduced  into  the  mind  amongst  its  ear- 
liest ideas,  bring  into  subjection  the  finest  understandings,  and 
persist  for  ages,  until  reason,  reasserting  her  rights,  drives  back 
imagination  within  proper  limits. 

When  entire  nations  accept  erroneous  ideas  as  facts,  and  teach 
them  by  lessons,  books,  pictures,  sculptures — in  a  word,  by  all 
the  surroundings  of  social  life — they  become  such  that  no  one 
can  overcome  them  without  divine  aid.  The  great  men  of  the 
age  partake  to  a  certain  extent  of  the  opinions  and  prejudices  of 
their  contemporaries;  but  these  false  notions  have  no  effect  on 
their  conduct.  The  representatives  of  a  necessary  and  useful 
idea — its  incarnation,  if  I  may  so  express  myself — their  mission 
is  providential.  They  are  driven  by  an  irresistible  impulse  to 
do  as  they  do,  and  their  actions  assert  the  development  of  the 
highest  faculties  of  the  human  mind. 

Let  us  apply  these  principles  to  the  subject  of  our  work,  with 
the  aid  of  some  ideas  borrowed  from  psychology.  The  outward 
world  afiects  us,  it  invades  all  the  senses,  peoples  the  brain  with 
millions  of  images,  which  an  emotion,  a  passion,  an  abstraction, 
can  suddenly  reproduce  with  all  their  variety  and  diversity  of 
coloring.  Hence  the  desire  that  all  have  to  feast  on  images. 
These  pictured  reminiscences,  which  impress  us  in  two  different 
modes,  according  to  which  they  appear  to  us  false  or  real,  con- 
stitute the  phenomena  of  hallucinations.  But  the  senses  are  not 
the  only  sources  of  our  ideas  :  some  are  derived  from  the  soul, 
from  God;  these  are  general  ideas,  pure  perceptions,  which 
cannot  be  pictured  ;  they  only  enter  the  region  of  hallucination 
by  an  overwrought  abstraction  ;  the  form  under  which  they  are 
presented  is  but  the  result  of  the  imperfection  of  our  nature;  the 
spirituality  of  man  is  not  thereby  affected. 

The  sensible  signs  which  form  the  exclusive  materials  for  hal- 
lucinations, everything  that  exerts  a  powerful  impression  on  the 
mind,  can,  under  certain  circumstances,  produce  an  image,  a 
sound,  a  smell,  etc.  Thus,  when  a  man  has  long  resigned  him- 
self to  profound  meditation,  he  frequently  finds  the  idea  which 
has  absorbed  him  clothed  in  a  material  form  ;  on  the  cessation 


20  INTRODUCTION. 

of  the  mental  effort,  tlic  vision  disappears,  and  it  is  explained  by 
natural  laws.  But,  should  this  man  live  at  a  time  when  appari- 
tions, demons,  spirits,  phantoms,  are  a  general  belief,  the  vision 
becomes  a  reality;  with  this  difference,  that  if  his  intellects  are 
healthy,  and  his  mind  clear,  this  apparition  has  no  power  over 
him,  and  he  can  fulfil  the  duties  of  his  social  life  as  well  as  he 
who  has  no  hallucinations. 

This  remark  applies  forcibly  to  the  hallucinations  of  eminent 
men.  To  have  been  raised  above  the  belief  of  their  times,  they 
should  have  inherited  another  nature,  especially  where  the  belief 
had  nothing  of  a  reprehensible  character.  In  adopting  it,  they 
partook  of  a  social  error  ;  but  their  enterprises,  their  actions, 
their  doctrines,  were  those  of  philosophers,  of  moralists,  of  bene- 
factors of  their  kind.  They  fulfilled  a  needful  mission,  and  their 
names  are  justly  inscribed  among  those  who  glorify  humanity. 

Who  is  not  struck  by  the  extreme  differences  which  separate 
these  from  those  who  are  hallucinated  in  our  day?  The  former, 
powerful,  logical,  full  of  grandeur  in  their  actions,  are  the  repre- 
sentatives of  an  epoch,  a  want,  an  idea.  The  latter,  feeble,  unde- 
cided, illusive,  are  the  expression  of  no  desire;  their  missions  are 
useless,  aimless.  The  hallucinations  of  the  one  are  consequent 
on  the  times  ;  they  have  no  influence  on  their  reason  ;  whilst 
those  of  the  others  prove  an  unhealthy  individual  organization, 
and  are  always  more  or  less  mixed  up  with  madness. 

An  important  point,  which  must  not  be  lost  sight  of,  is  that,  in 
the  greater  number  of  these,  the  hallucination  was  only  an  auxili- 
ary to  their  thought.  The  illustrious  men,  so  unjustly  placed  in 
the  catalogue  of  lunatics,  began  by  conceiving  and  arranging 
their  plans,  stamped  with  the  impress  of  genius  ;  and  it  was  only 
when,  having  profoundly  considered  them  in  all  their  bearings — 
their  minds  having  attained  the  highest  degree  of  enthusiasm, 
that  prime  mover  of  great  actions — that  they  saw  their  thought 
take  a  form.  The  condition  designated  by  the  word  liallucination, 
which  we  use  for  want  of  a  better,  was  not  in  these  cases  a  symp- 
tom of  madness,  but  the  result  of  the  highest  pitch  of  attention. 

In  reading  the  life  of  an  illustrious  personage,  we  must  never 
lose  sight  of  the  fact  that  it  is  composed  of  a  history  and  a 
biography; — history  as  the  spiritual,  biography  as  the  mortal 
part.  To  judge  of  one  without  the  other,  would  be  to  deceive 
ourselves  and  others.     The  upspringings  of  genius  give  rise  to 


INTRODUCTION.  21 

phenomena,  "l^'llicll  are  frequently  derived  from  the  public  voice  ; 
thej  are  the  rough  materials,  which  disappear  beneath  the  knife 
of  the  operator,  to  leave  but  the  perfect  result;  they  are,  so  to 
speak,  hallucinations  ;  but  they  have  no  effect  upon  acquired 
truths  ;  and  these  exist  as  well  before  as  after  the  life  of  him 
who  has  been  made  their  interpreter.  Considering  its  duality, 
we  think  that  an  idea  is,  like  man,  composed  of  two  parts — the 
one  spiritual,  the  other  material  ;  and  hallucination,  considered 
in  its  characteristic  phenomena,  is  the  material  reproduction  of 
an  idea.  It  is  the  highest  degree  of  tension  of  which  the  deep 
thinker  is  capable — a  real  ecstasy.  Amongst  people  of  strong 
conviction,  where  imagination  is  not  enlightened  by  science,  it 
is  the  reflection  of  general  belief;  but  in  neither  case  does  it  oflfer 
any  obstacle  to  the  free  exercise  of  reason.  It  is  an  incontro- 
vertible fact  that  the  most  celebrated  men  have  been  subject 
to  hallucinations,  without  being  in  the  least  degree  suspected  of 
mental  aberration. 

But,  however  strongly  we  may  protest  against  accusing  these 
learned  men  of  madness,  we  nevertheless  admit  that  hallucina- 
tions, combined  with  loss  of  reason,  have  existed  amongst  a  cer- 
tain number  of  persons  renowned  in  history. 

The  necessity  of  belief  is  a  distinctive  trait  of  our  nature.  If 
we  take  both  faith  and  reason  for  our  guides,  we  are  surely  led 
without  obstacle  to  the  end  we  would  attain;  but  if  we  lean  ex- 
clusively on  one  or  the  other,  the  result  must  be  sadly  erroneous. 
Faith  without  reason  leads  directly  to  superstition;  and  reason 
without  faith  almost  always  results  in  arrogance.  The  halluci- 
nations which  arise  from  these  two  sources  of  error  will  be  as 
various  as  the  habitual  ideas  and  occupations  of  the  individual. 
The  craving  to  know,  unregulated,  will  produce  monstrosities  of 
every  kind.  The  desire  of  excitement,  indulged  in,  will  drive 
even  the  most  enlightened  nations  into  absurdities,  and  give  an 
ephemeral  triumph  to  impostors,  until  a  new  excitement  arises  to 
replace  that  which  last  existed.  It  would  be  impossible  to  give 
a  luminous  account  of  the  hallucinations  resulting  from  these 
two  causes  ;  they  would  be  as  numerous  as  the  combinations  of 
thought,  and  as  diversified  as  character. 

However  much  the  false  direction  of  the  mental  powers  may  be 
the  cause  of  these  hallucinations,  they  cannot  all  be  so  classed. 
Some  are  the  result  of  disease,  some  of  certain  substances  intro- 


22  INTRODUCTION. 

duced  into  the  system,  etc.  The  primitive  phenomenon  is  always 
the  same  ;  but  the  cause  differs.  We  have,  therefore,  thought  it 
well  to  separate  it  into  two  classes  ;  namely,  moral  causes  and 
physical  causes.  In  treating  of  hallucinations  and  their  etiology, 
considered  psychologically,  historically,  morally,  and  religiously, 
we  shall  enter  fully  into  such  a  development  as  the  importance 
of  the  subject  demands. 

In  a  question  of  this  nature,  it  is  natural  that  our  opinion 
should  be  required  on  apparitions  mentioned  in  Holy  Writ.  It 
belongs  neither  to  our  principles  nor  to  our  convictions  to  evade 
a  reply.  We  admit  the  authenticity  of  the  recitals  both  of  the 
Old  and  the  New  Testament  ;  we  believe  in  the  intervention  of 
the  Divinity  to  establish  a  religion,  the  founder  of  which  pro- 
claimed his  mission  by  the  destruction  of  the  worship  of  false 
gods,  by  the  abolition  of  slavery,  and  the  creation  of  family  ties. 

But  whilst  we  have  established  for  profane  history  the  fact 
that  there  are  hallucinations  compatible  with  reason,  that  there 
are  others  aggravated  by  insanity,  resulting  from  an  unhealthy 
organization,  we  at  the  same  time  believe  that  many  religious  per- 
sons have  had  hallucinations  connected  with  the  opinions,  the 
errors,  and  prejudices  of  the  age,  without  influencing  their  rea- 
son ;  and  that  others,  on  the  contrary,  have  been  victims  of  a 
delirious  imagination.  Our  general  laws  are  stamped  with  the 
seal  of  our  weakness,  since  their  exceptions  are  incessantly  placed 
side  by  side  with  them. 

Now,  if  we  consider  the  chief  points  of  this  chapter,  we  shall 
observe  that  a  craving  for  the  unknown,  to  which  is  related  or 
whence  springs  the  desire  to  .know,  the  love  of  the  marvellous, 
the  thirst  for  emotions,  proceeds  from  the  violation  of  the  two 
grand  laws  which  preside  over  human  destiny — the  knowledge  of 
God  and  of  ourselves. 

Reason,  quitting  the  path  of  plain  doctrine  and  calm  philoso- 
phy, becomes  uncertain,  vacillating,  leaves  the  field  free  to  Ima- 
gination, which,  delighting  in  paradoxes,  dreams,  and  chimeras, 
and  reigning  supreme,  throws  ideas  into  a  multitude  of  false 
positions,  which,  becoming  afterwards  systematized,  serve  for 
the  development  of  other  species. 

But  thought — that  food  of  the  mind,  that  mysterious  link  be- 
tween the  soul  and  the  body — acts  in  two  ways  upon  man  :  by  its 
visible  and  its  spiritual  sign.     If  a  moral  or  physical  cause  acts"* 


intkoductiojST.  23 

on  the  mind  with  sufficient  power  to  create  a  visible  picture,  as  in 
the  phenomenon  of  hallucinations,  an  image  is  produced;  thus,  in 
derangement,  the  mind  is  not  the  diseased  part,  it  is  the  organ 
alone  that  suffers.  The  instrument  is  defective — the  mind  that 
directed  it  is  untouched;  it  rests  inactive,  but  it  is  never  injured; 
sometimes  it  even  struggles  through  all  obstacles,  and  proves 
that  all  its  energy  is  preserved,  notwithstanding  its  long  rest. 
In  its  sickness,  obliged  to  act  on  a  chimera,  it  has  continued  its 
functions  with  perfect  regularity. 

When  neglect  of  fundamental  principles  has  multiplied  false 
notions,  filled  the  mind  with  superstitions  and  errors,  which  have 
become  general  belief,  the  visible  signs  by  which  these  notions 
are  impressed  on  us  exhibit  themselves  in  hallucinations;  thus, 
in  periods  of  individuality,  they  are  manifested  in  forms  con- 
nected with  the  habitual  preoccupation  of  whosoever  is  presented 
to  the  eyes  of  the  mind. 

The  effects  of  hallucinations  are  of  two  kinds  :  either  they 
have  no  influence  on  the  mind,  or  they  are  accompanied  by  mad- 
ness. 

But  in  recognizing  the  authority  of  reason,  it  must  not  be 
forgotten  that  it  is 'under  restraint,  and  that  consequently  it  can 
be  checked  and  controlled  ;  and,  convinced  with  Bossuet  that 
religion  can  only  come  under  its  influence  to  a  certain  point,  and 
under  fixed  limits,  we  admit  the  authenticity  of  the  apparitions 
of  Holy  Writ,  which  we  separate  entirely  from  the  hallucinations 
of  religious  men  occasioned  by  general  belief,  and  compatible 
with  reason. 

These  preliminaries  established,  we  proceed  to  give  the  general 
arrangement  of  our  work: — 

The  definition  of  hallucination  should  precede  its  history;  with 
that,  therefore,  the  book  commences.  It  has  been  argued  that 
it  would  be  more  logical  to  begin  by  the  method  of  analysis 
and  synthesis  ;  but  that  would  require  tortuous  paths  ;  we  prefer 
the  one  which  at  once  gives  a  clear  idea  of  the  question. 

If  hallucination  were  a  simple  fact,  its  classification  would  not 
require  such  enlarged  development  ;  but  it  is  far  from  being  so. 
This  particular  state  of  the  mind  is  seen  under  a  multitude  of 
aspects.  It  exists  with  reason,  it  constitutes  a  variety  in  mad- 
ness ;  frequently,  strange  metamorphoses  of  feeling  mask  it  com- 
pletely.    Almost  always  it  accompanies  alienation,  of  which  it 


2-i  INTRODUCTION. 

is  then  but  a  symptom.  It  exists  in  nightmare,  in  dreams,  in 
ecstasies  ;  certain  nervous  diseases,  such  as  epilepsy,  hysteria, 
hypochondria,  are  also  frequently  united  -with  it  ;  indeed,  it  is 
likewise  observed  in  many  inflammatory,  chronic,  and  other 
affections.  This  multiplicity  of  forms  has  led  us  to  establish  ten 
sections. 

The  first  is  devoted  to  hallucinations  compatible  with  reason. 
The  facts  which  are  cited  indisputably  establish  the  fact  that 
the  reproduction  of  cerebral  images  can  take  place  without  de- 
rangement of  the  intellectual  faculties  ;  they  will  serve  hereafter 
to  explain  the  hallucinations  of  celebrated  men  falsely  accused 
of  madness. 

The  second  section  comprises  simple  hallucinations,  but  stamped 
with  the  character  of  alienation.  Individuals  are  persuaded  that 
they  see,  hear,  smell,  taste,  and  handle  things  that  are  impal- 
pable to  the  senses  of  those  about  them.  These  false  sensations 
exist  even  in  the  absence  of  the  senses.  Thus,  the  blind  say  that 
they  see  angels  and  devils.  The  deaf  recite  conversations  they 
have  heard.  The  hallucinations  may  be  isolated,  or  several  may 
be  combined  ;  they  can  affect  all  the  senses. 

In  the  third  section  are  collected  the  hallucinations  that  are 
mingled  with  another  error  of  the  senses,  to  which  the  name  of 
illusion  is  given.  In  the  first  instance,  vision  occurred  without 
an  object  ;  in  the  second,  it  is  always  produced  by  a  real  body, 
but  Avhich  gives  a  different  impression  from  reality;  a  man  be- 
comes a  woman,  a  piece  of  wood,  a  frightful  monster.  Illusions 
sometimes  appear  as  an  epidemic  ;  and  such  are  not  rare  in  his- 
tory. Each  sense  may  be  the  seat  of  the  illusion,  or  all  may 
be  at  once  affected.  In  more  than  one  instance,  illusions  have 
caused  offensive  and  dangerous  acts. 

Hallucinations  are  above  all  frequent  in  madness  ;  the  fourth 
section  embraces  those  which  are  observable  in  monomania,  and 
the  other  varieties  of  alienation.  The  forms  of  delirium  which 
most  frequently  exhibit  this  complication  are  melancholy,  deli- 
rium tremens,  demonomania,  erotomania,  nostalgia,  etc.  A  va- 
riety of  demonomania  formerly  played  a  prominent  part;  those,^ 
who  were  attacked  by  it  imagined  that  they  had  dealings  with  de- 
mons, whom  they  called  Incubes  and  Succubes.  To  this  section 
is  also  related  that  which  manifests  itself  by  stupidity.  Con- 
founded with  imbecility,  successively  classed  with  several  kinds 


INTRODUCTION.  25 

of  madness,  there  is  no  doubt  that  this  state  now  and  then  is 
accompanied  hj  errors  in  the  senses,  the  existence  of  Avhich  is 
not  proved  until  after  the  recovery  of  the  patient,  and  "which 
gives  a  reason  for  acts  otherwise  inexplicable,  and  only  to  be 
accounted  for  by  hallucinations. 

The  fourth  section  also  includes  hallucinations  that  accompany 
mania;  they  arc  often  associated  with  illusions,  or  alternate  with 
them.  Their  frequency  is  almost  as  great  as  in  monomania,  but 
it  is  often  more  difficult  to  detect  them,  because  maniacs  pass 
from  one  object  to  another,  are  capricious,  reply  with  volubility, 
and  pay  no  attention  to  the  questions  addressed  to  them.  There 
is  a  variety  of  this  mania  with  lying-in  women,  which  is  observ- 
able in  many  cases.  A  fact  which  is  more  rare,  but  which  we 
have  likewise  noted,  is  the  persistence  of  this  symptom  in  the 
last  stage  of  general  paralysis.  It  is  probable  that  hallucina- 
tions exist  in  some  degrees  of  imbecility. 

Hallucinations  which  are  exhibited  in  delirium  tremens,  drunk- 
enness, after  the  absorption  of  narcotics  and  poisons,  are  the  sub- 
jects of  the  fifth  section  ;  we  have  thought  it  proper  to  separate 
alienation  from  mental  hallucinations,  which,  linked  with  the 
action  of  these  substances,  do  not  really  show  themselves  with 
the  characters  of  madness,  and  we  have  chosen  to  speak  of  them 
under  the  article  Etiology.  Delirium  tremens,  as  well  as  mad- 
ness from  inebriety,  has  a  great  influence  on  the  conduct  ;  we 
have  examined  each  under  the  triple  relation  of  morality,  medi- 
cine, and  law. 

The  sixth  section  comprises  hallucinations  connected  with  cata- 
lepsy, epilepsy,  hysteria,  hypochondria,  etc. 

The  hallucinations  of  nightmare  and  dreams  constitute  the 
seventh  section.  It  is  evident  that  nightmare  has  points  of  re- 
lation with  madness,  which  are  observable  in  that  state.  There 
are  also  dreams,  which  are  closely  analogous  to  hallucinations. 
The  physiological  study  of  dreams  has  presented  many  interest- 
ing particulars  ;  it  is  thus,  for  instance,  that  presentiments  ap- 
pear to  us  explainable  in  most  cases  by  hallucinations.  It  must 
not,  however,  be  thought  that  presentiments  occur  only  in  dreams, 
and  that  hallucination  always  explains  them.  One  case  of  noc- 
turnal hallucination  which  is  related  in  this  section  may  throw 
some  light  on  actions  frequently  inexplicable.  Indeed,  we  have 
proved  that  nocturnal  hallucinations  have  sometimes  existed  as 
an  epidemic. 


26  INTRODUCTION. 

There  is  a  singular  state  of  the  mind  known  under  the  term 
eestasy,  the  phenomena  of  "svhich  have  justly  attracted  the  re- 
searches of  ohservers.  The  hallucinations  which  are  one  of  its 
distinctive  characteristics  have  induced  us  to  form  it  into  an  eighth 
section.  Prolonged  concentration  of  thought  on  one  object  is 
terminated  by  an  ecstatic  state  of  the  brain,  in  which  the  object 
is  reproduced,  and  affects  the  mind  as  if  it  were  really  perceived 
by  the  eyes  of  the  body.  With  this  state  of  the  mind  may 
be  classed  the  visions  of  celebrated  men.  Their  hallucinations 
had  often  no  influence  on  their  reason,  particularly  when  they 
were  united  to  the  general  belief  of  the  time,  and  when  they  oc- 
curred during  the  ecstasy  that  we  have  termed  physiological. 
Ecstasy  has  several  times  been  noticed  in  children;  in  catalepsy, 
hysteria,  overwrought  mysticism,  and  mental  alienation. 

Certain  special  phenomena,  such  as  premonition,  clairvoy- 
ance, second-sight,  magnetism,  and  somnambulism,  appear  to  us 
related  to  ecstasy.  The  effect  of  cold  has  also  occasioned  this 
nervous  state.  Ecstasy  has  been  observed  in  all  climates;  and 
even  lately  has  appeared  among  several  thousand  persons  in 
Sweden.  The  hallucinations  observed  in  these  different  nervous 
states,  and  especially  in  somnambulism,  may  cause  acts  involving 
great  responsibility. 

The  ninth  section  of  the  classification  comprehends  febrile 
complaints,  acute,  chronic,  and  other  inflammations,  and  certain 
atmospheric  states.  Amongst  the  diseases  in  which  this  symptom 
has  been  most  frequent,  we  will  notice  acute  delirium,  which  has 
been  observed  in  madhouses,  fever,  attacks  of  the  brain,  paren- 
chymatous inflammations,  typhus  and  typhoid  fevers,  intermit- 
tent fevers,  gout,  chlorosis,  pellagra,  hectic  diseases,  syncope, 
asphyxia,  lethargy,  convalescence,  etc.  Atmospheric  influences 
appear  to  have  frequently  caused  this  symptom. 

Finally,  in  the  last  section  we  have  exhibited  the  hallucinations 
and  epidemic  illusions  of  which  we  have  elsewhere  spoken. 

Such  is  the  circle  in  which  we  have  collected  the  facts  relative 
to  hallucinations  which  have  come  under  our  notice  ;  large  as 
it  may  be,  we  believe  that  the  arrangement  is  such  as  to  enable 
any  one  to  comprehend  the  whole. 

By  the  numerous  divisions  that  we  have  established,  it  will  be 
perceived  that  hallucinations  have  different  causes.  The  two 
great  moral  and  physical  categories,  indicated  at  the  commence- 


INTKODUCTION.  27 

ment  of  this  chapter,  are  the  leading  points  whence  emanate  ^ 
a  multitude  of  second  causes.  As,  in  mental  alienation,  domi- 
nant ideas  have  a  great  influence  on  hallucinations,  so,  during 
the  reign  of  demonology,  sorcery,  magic,  lycanthropy,  and  vam- 
pirism, men  everywhere  saw  devils,  sorcerers,  men-wolves,  vam- 
pires, etc.  With  different  degrees  .^of  civilization,  the  character 
of  hallucination  varies.  With  the  Greeks,  it  was  exhibited  in 
the  form  of  pans,  fawns,  naïades.  With  the  Komans,  it  took  the 
aspect  of  genii.  In  the  Middle  Ages,  it  was  manifested  in  the  form 
of  angels,  saints,  and  devils.  In  our  time,  all  possible  combinations 
of  thought  form  the  basis.  When  hallucinations  are  produced  by 
physical  causes,  they  may  be  referred  more  or  less  to  each  of 
these  ;  but,  as  we  have  already  announced  them  in  several  pre- 
ceding sections,  we  will  abstain  from  repetition. 

Correctly  speaking,  the  preceding  paragraph  has  reference  only 
to  the  secondary  causes  of  hallucinations  ;  it  was  necessary  to 
consider  them  on  higher  grounds,  which  we  have  endeavored  to 
do  in  a  chapter  in  which  they  are  regarded  in  a  psychological, 
historical,  moral,  and  religious  view.  In  the  early  part  of  this 
chapter,  we  have  shown  that  the  first  causes  of  hallucinations  must 
be  sought  for  in  the  violation  of  some  great  principle,  in  the  errone- 
ous direction  of  ideas,  and  by  consequence  in  the  abnormal  produc- 
tion of  their  perceptible  signs.  After  having  entered  on  more  ex- 
tended considerations  of  the  nature  of  ideas,  their  division,  the 
principal  operations  of  the  mind  which  are  brought  into  play  in 
hallucinations,  we  have  shown  that  these  should  often  be  con- 
sidered as  almost  a  normal  fact,  to  which  we  have  already  alluded 
in  speaking  of  physiological  ecstasy.  This  mode  of  treating  the 
subject  of  hallucinations  has  enabled  us  to  explain  how  so  many 
celebrated  men  have  been  thus  affected,  without  on  that  account 
being  insane.  The  examples  of  Loyola,  Luthei-,  and  Joan  of  Arc 
offer  themselves  at  once  as  decided  demonstrations  in  favor  of 
this  opinion. 

Above  all,  the  object  of  our  argument  is  to  prove  that  these 
noted  personages  were  the  personifications  of  an  epoch,  an  idea  ; 
that  they  fulfilled  a  useful  and  necessary  mission  ;  and  that  their 
hallucinations  had  nothing  in  common  with  those  of  the  present 
time.  In  this  chapter,  we  have  also  endeavored  to  establish  a  de- 
cided line  of  demarcation  between  the  apparitions  of  Holy  Writ, 
the  hallucinations  of  profane  history,  and  even  those  of  many 


's-xtA- 


28  INTRODUCTION. 

Christians.  If  our  judgment  does  not  deceive  us,  we  have  present- 
ed the  doctrine  of  hallucinations  in  a  much  clearer  form  than  it 
has  hitherto  been  done;  and  we  willingly  believe  that  all  good 
people,  who  admit  the  utility  of  religion,  who  think  that  it  ought 
to  be  respected  and  honored,  will  thank  us  for  our  feeble  efforts. 
As  to  those  who  rank  a  belief  in  Christianity  among  errors,  we 
judge  them  not;  but  if  our  opinions  incur  their  blame,  we  prefer 
it,  to  an  approbation  gained  by  that  compromise  of  conscience 
Avhich  is  unhappily  too  common. 

This  treatise  on  hallucinations  would  have  been  incomplete, 
had  we  been  silent  on  their  physiology.  Deeply  studied  by  M. 
Baillarger,  in  the  memoir  to  which  the  prize  was  awarded  by  the 
Academy  of  Medicine,*  it  had  partly,  been  described  by  us  in 
our  symptomatology  ;  we  have  added  to  this  chapter  all  that 
appeared  new  in  the  Avork  of  our  learned  brother. 

We  have  no  reason  to  anticipate  any  satisfactory  result  from 
23ost-mortem  examinations  of  the  insane,  with  regard  to  halluci- 
nations ;  on  this  point  we  agree  with  the  majority  of  the  Faculty, 
who  consider  that  the  pathological  anatomy  of  hallucinations  has 
yet  to  be  made.  If,  in  this  case,  alterations  were  met  with,  they 
were  simple  coincidences  or  effects,  and  were  quite  as  frequently 
wanting,  various,  and  contradictory. 

Moreover,  the  progress  and  duration,  diagnosis  and  prognosis 
of  hallucinations  have  offered  considerations  on  which  we  have 
dwelt  according  to  their  merits. 

The  treatment  of  hallucinations  up  to  the  present  period  has 
been  slight.  M.  Leuret,  entering  his  protest  against  this  error, 
proved  that  such  patients,  properly  guided,  could  be  cured.  He 
has  claimed  the  merit  of  calling  the  attention  of  practitioners 
to  this  point,  and  has  established  rules,  Avliich,  although  much 
disputed,  have  in  several  cases  proved  successful.  But  in  doing 
justice  to  the  merit  of  this  physician,  unjustly  attacked  during 
his  life,t  we  would  modify  the  use  of  his  method,  and  justify  by 
facts  the  one  Avhich  we  propose,  and  which  appears  to  us  more 
generally  applicable. 

Our   task  would  have   been  imperfectly  performed   had  we 

*  Mem.  quoted. 

t  See  the  notice  that  we  published  of  him  in  the  Annal.  Med.  Psych., 
July,  1851. 


INTRODUCTION.  29 

neglected  the  examination  of  hallucinations  in  connection  "with 
civil  and  criminal  institutions.  It  has  been  proved  by  a  multi- 
tude of  examples  that  persons  thus  aifected  may,  under  the 
influence  of  their  false  impressions,  commit  reprehensible,  dan- 
gerous, and  even  criminal  acts.  This  fact,  placed  beyond  doubt 
in  the  course  of  this  work,  has  been  confirmed  by  new  examples. 
Thence  it  became  necessary  to  establish  signs  by  which  this  state 
should  be  proved,  in  order  that  it  might  not  be  confounded  with 
simulation;  we  have  discovered  these  signs  by  inquiry,  and 
from  the  writings  and  prolonged  observation  of  individuals  ;  we 
also  think  that  magistrates,  as  well  as  doctors,  possess  the. 
means  to  distinguish  criminals  laboring  under  hallucination. 
The  question  of  sequestration,  already  agitated  in  speaking  of 
treatment,  has  been  newly  considered.  Useful  in  many  cases, 
especially  when  the  patient  is  mischievous,  in  many  others  it  could 
not  be  recommended  without  serious  inconvenience  to  the  persons 
affected.  Finally,  we  have  closed  this  chapter,  the  principal 
points  of  which  we  have  glanced  at,  by  showing  that  it  is  possible 
to  use  a  test  in  the  case  of  hallucinations,  provided  that  they  do 
not  influence  the  acts  of  the  individual  :  but  we  have  also  shown 
that  it  is  not  thus  when  the  affections  are  perverted;  as  would, 
for  example,  be  the  belief  that  a  near  relative  had  the  form  of  a 
devil,  that  he  used  electricity  to  poison  the  food,  exhaled  infec- 
tious odors,  caused  torment,  etc. 

In  composing  a  work  of  this  nature,  the  author  should  seek  to 
combine  interest  with  instruction.  The  favorable  reception  that 
we  have  met  with  induces  the  belief  that  these  two  conditions 
have  been  fulfilled. 


CHAPTER    I. 

DEFINITION  AND  DIVISION  OF  HALLUCINATIONS. 

Importance  of  the  study  of  hallucinations — Definition  of  authors — Outline  of  the 
principal  classifications — Character  of  the  one  presented  by  the  author. 

The  psycliological  history  of  man  does  not  offer  a  more  curious 
question  than  that  of  hallucinations.  To  see  what  no  eye  per- 
ceives, to  hear  what  no  ear  hears,  to  be  convinced  of  the  reality 
of  sensations  to  which  all  are  incredulous — does  not  this  present 
matter  for  research  full  of  interest  ? 

Hallucination,  recorded  in  the  annals  of  every  people,  and 
in  the  lives  of  the  greater  number  of  celebrated  persons,  and  ex- 
isting as  a  creed  through  a  long  vista  of  ages,  is,  doubtless,  re- 
strained by  the  progress  of  science  ;  but,  such  as  it  now  appears, 
its  study  becomes  a  matter  of  high  import,  from  the  part  it  plays 
in  a  host  of  psychological  phenomena,  its  intervention  in  many 
diseases,  and  particularly  in  mental  affections. 

What  is  hallucination  ?  How  can  it  be  defined  ?  Is  it  simple, 
or  combined  with  other  morbid  conditions  ?  Such  are  the  differ- 
ent questions  with  wdiich  we  shall  commence  our  work. 

Aristotle,  Zeno,  and  Chrysippus,  among  the  ancients,  were,  in 
a  degree,  aware  of  a  false  perception,  and  endeavored  to  distin- 
guish it  from  true  perception;  they  described  three  sorts  of  hal- 
lucinations— those  of  the  sight,  of  the  hearing,  and  of  smell  ;  but 
they  neither  noted  all  the  degrees  nor  all  the  conditions  of  its 
existence. 

The  definition  of  hallucination  does  not  appear  to  trace  to  a 
period  far  back  ;  Arnold  is,  we  think,  the  first  who  gave  it 
any  completeness  of  form.  "Ideal  insanity,"  said  he,  "is  the 
intellectual  state  of  a  person  who  believes  he  sees  and  hears 
'  what  no  other  person  sees  or  hears  ;  who  imagines  he  converses 
with  spirits,  perceives  things  impalpable  to  the  senses,  or  that 


32  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

do  not  exist  outAvardly  such  as  tlicj  appear  to  liim  ;  or  "wlio, 
when  he  sees  external  objects  in  their  reality,  has  false  and 
absurd  ideas  of  his  own  form,  and  of  the  palpable  qualities  of 
objects."* 

One  cannot  but  see  in  this  definition,  certainly  somewhat  long, 
the  distinction  of  hallucinations  and  illusions,  as  also  errors  of 
personality. 

Al.  Crichton,  who  wrote  about  the  same  time,  defined  halluci- 
nation or  illusion,  as  a  delusion  of  mind,  in  Avhich  fancies  are  mis- 
taken for  realities,  and  real  objects  become  falsely  represented, 
without  any  general  derangement  of  the  intellectual  faculties.! 

Sauvages,  with  Felix  Plater,  called  hallucination  a  false  percep- 
tion caused  by  imperfection  of  the  external  senses  ;  and  included, 
under  the  vague  term  delirium,  that  the  principle  of  which  is  in 
the  brain  itself.  Amongst  hallucinations,  he  placed  vertigo, 
double-sight,  tingling  in  the  ear,  hypochondria,  and  somnambu- 
lism. Darwin,  in  his  Zoonomia,  admits  the  opinion  of  the  two 
preceding  authors. 

By  the  word  hallucination,  Ferriar  understands  all  deceitful 
impressions,  from  the  fly  that  flutters  before  the  eye  to  the  most 
frightful  spectre. I 

\     According  to  Ilibbert,  hallucinations  are  merely  ideas  and  re- 
collections, so  vivid  as  to  surpass  real  impressions.  § 

Esquirol,  the  first  in  France  who  gave  a  precise  sense  to  the 
word  hallucination,  has  applied  it  to  phenomena  neither  depend- 
ent on  a  local  lesion  of  the  senses,  nor  on  a  vicious  association  of 
ideas,  nor  on  the  efl"ect  of  imagination,  but  solely  on  a  particular, 
and,  as  yet,  unknown  lesion  of  the  brain;  he  defines  hallucination 
as  a  cerebral  or  psychical  phenomenon,  acting  independently  of 
the  senses,  and  consisting  in  external  sensations,  that  the  patient 
belieyes  he  experiences,  although  no  external  agent  acts  mate- 
rially on  his  senses.    In  another  part  of  his  book,  he  says:  "The 

*  Arnold's  Observations  on  the  Nature,  Kinds,  Causes,  and  Prevention 
of  Insanity  ;  two  vols.  8vo.,  2d  edition,  t.  1,  p.  55,  London,  180G.  First 
edition  puljlished  in  1782. 

t  Alex.  Crichton,  An  Inquiry  into  the  Nature  and  Origin  of  Mental 
Derangement,  t.  2,  p.  342,  London,  1798. 

X  An  Essay  towards  a  Theory  of  Apparitions,  p.  05,  London,  1813. 

^  Samuel  Ilibbert,  Sketches  of  the  Philosophy  of  Apparitions,  2d  edi- 
tion, p.  1,  London,  1825. 


CLASSIFICATION  OF  HALLUCINATIONS.  33 

professed  sensations  of  the  hallucinated  are  images,  and  ideas, 
reproduced  bj  memory,  associated  by  imagination,  and  personi- 
fied by  habit." 

This  second  definition  has  been  strongly  attacked  as  being 
neither  logical  nor  consonant  with  facts.  We  will  not  bring  for- 
ward the  criticism  to  which  it  has  been  subjected,  but  we  consider 
it  more  brilliant  than  correct. 

M.  Fabret,  in  his  Lectures  upon  Mental  Diseases,  published  iu 
the  Grazette  des  Hôpitaux  for  1850,  adopts  Esquirol's  opinions, 
though  with  some  slight  modifications. 

Darwin,  and  subsequently  M.  Eaville,  considered  hallucinations 
as  a  lesion  of  the  organs  of  sense.  On  this  hypothesis,  a  false 
perception,  always  the  same,  is  assumed  to  exist;  but  it  is  im- 
possible to  adopt  it  for  the  hallucinations  that  are  connected  with 
the  habitual  ideas  of  the  individual,  or  with  those  which  are 
prevalent  at  certain  historical  epochs. 

According  to  M.  Calmeil,  hallucinations  are  ideas  that  are 
converted  into  material  impressions,  and  are  carried  into  ac- 
tion on  the  external  senses,  although  the  nervous  system  of  the 
periphery  is  passive.  But  this  physician  goes  farther,  since  he 
admits  that  the  peripheric  nervous  system  may  be  the  starting- 
point  for  the  most  varied,  and  probably  the  most  numerous, 
hallucinations.    M.  Calmeil  combines  hallucinations  and  illusions. 

Mons.  Lélut  considers  hallucinations  to  be  an  intermediate 
phenomenon  between  sensation  and  conception.  This  pheno- 
menon he  regards  as  a  spontaneous  transformation  of  thought 
into  sensations  generally  external. 

M.  Bland  has  attacked  this  definition,  by  remarking  that  hal- 
lucination cannot  be  a  transformation  of  thought,  because  thought, 
immaterial  in  its  nature,  has  no  form,  consequently  cannot  be 
transformed,  nor  become  material  like  a  sensation,  viewed  by  the 
impulse  which  produces  it.* 

Between  sensation  and  conception,  says  M.  Leuret,  there  ex- 
ists an  intermediate  phenomenon,  that  practitioners  call  halluci- 
nation. Hallucination  resembles  sensation,  inasmuch  as,  like 
sensation,  it  gives  the  idea  of  a  body  actually  acting  on  the 
organs.     It  diifers  from  it,  inasmuch  as  it  exists  without  an  ex- 

*  Bland,  Note  pour  servir  à  l'histoire  des  hallucinations,  Eevue  Médi- 
cale, Juin,  1842. 

3 


34  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

ternal  object.  Like  conception,  it  is  creative,  but  it  produces 
images,  not  ideas;  images,  however,  which  are  of  the  same  worth 
to  the  hallucinated  as  the  objects  themselves.* 

Again,  M,  Aubanel,  in  his  excellent  treatise  on  hallucina- 
tions,t  looks  on  this  phenomenon  as  a  form  or  variety  of  mental 
alienation,  in  which  a  man  transforms  the  delirious  conceptions 
of  his  mind  into  sensations,  or,  by  means  of  these  same  con- 
ceptions, perverts  real  sensations  by  assimilating  them  to  his  de- 
lirious ideas. 

M.  Baillarger  admits  two  kinds  of  hallucination,  the  one  com- 
plete, which  are  the  result  of  the  double  action  of  imagination 
and  the  senses;  these  are  psyclio-sensorial :  the  other  produced 
only  by  the  involuntary  exercise  of  memory  and  imagination, 
which  are  psychical  hallucinations.  He  defined  psycho-sensorial 
hallucination  as  a  sensorial  perception,  independent  of  all  exter- 
nal excitation  of  the  sensuous  organs,  and  having  its  starting- 
point  in  the  involuntary  exercise  of  memory  and  imagination. 
Psychical  hallucinations  may  be  defined  as  perceptions  purely 
intellectual,  having  their  starting-point  in  the  involuntary  exer- 
cise of  memory  and  imagination,  and  in  a  less  degree  than  hal- 
lucinations of  the  former  kind — the  internal  excitation  of  the 
sensorial  apparatus. | 

According  to  M.  Michea,  hallucination  is  the  transformation, 
sometimes  voluntary,  but  more  frequently  involuntary,  of  me- 
mory and  imagination,  either  isolated  or  combined,  resembling 
sensorial  perception. §  Sometimes  it  is  cerebral,  and  idiopathic; 
sometimes  sensorial,  peripheric,  or  symptomatic. 

M.  Szalkowski  defines  hallucination  as  a  cerebral  or  psychical 
phenomenon  perfected  independently  of  the  senses,  and  consist- 
ing in  external  sensations  experienced  by  the  individual,  although 
no  external  agent  acts  materially  on  the  senses. || 

According  to  M.   Parchappe,  the  inherence  of  the  illusory 

*  Leuret,  Fragments  psychologique  sur  la  folie,  p.  133,  Paris,  1834. 

t  Aubanel,  Essai  sur  les  hallucinations,  thèse,  Paris,  1839. 

X  Baillarger,  Des  hallucinations,  des  causes  qui  les  produisent,  et  des 
maladies  qu'elles  caractérisent  [Mémoires  de  l'Académie  de  Médecine,  t.  12, 
Paris,  1846). 

§  Michea,  Du  délire  des  sensations,  p.  82,  Paris,  184G. 

Il  Louis  llufin  Szalkowski,  Kecherche  sur  les  hallucinations  au  point 
de  vue  de  la  psychologie,  de  l'histoire,  et  de  la  médecine  legale,  p.  8,  1849. 


CLASSIFICATION  OP  HALLUCINATIONS.  35 

characteristic  in  the  psychical  phenomenon,  considered  as  an 
essential  condition  of  the  special  change  of  modality  which  en- 
genders illusions,  necessarily  excludes  from  this  category  of 
symptoms  those  phenomena  which  result  immediately  and  ex- 
clusively from  the  operations  of  the  soul  as  much  as  intellectual 
strength.  In  this  opinion,  notions  and  ideas  can  be  true  or 
false,  and  never  illusory.  Illusory  sensations  are  distinguished 
from  other  psychical  phenomena,  inasmuch  as  they  have  an 
act  of  the  senses  for  their  condition,  and  an  illusion  for  their 
effect. 

The  illusory  sensations  are  of  two  orders,  objective  and  sub- 
jective. The  essential  character  of  the  former  is  to  have  a 
sensation  created  by  an  external  object,  and,  as  a  necessary  ef- 
fect, to  engender  an  illusion  relative  to  the  sensible  properties 
of  that  object.  The  subjective  have  for  their  essential  character 
a  sensation  without  a  real  object,  caused  by  an  exterior  modifica- 
tion of  the  organs  of  the  subject,  and  causing  an  illusion  relative 
to  the  existence  of  an  external  object.* 

Dendy  explains  hallucination  as  a  past  recollection — illusion, 
as  a  present  recollection. f 

For  ourselves,  building  on  the  symptomatology  of  hallucina- 
tions and  illusions,  we  will  define. hallucination  as  the  perception 
of  the  sensible  signs  of  an  idea;  and  illusion,  a  false  appreciation 
of  real  sensations.  In  considering  this  phenomenon  in  a  psycho- 
logical point  of  view,  we  will  explain  our  opinion,  by  stating  that 
the  spiritual  character  of  the  idea,  or  its  essence,  never  forms  a 
part  of  the  hallucination,  but  that  the  sensible  sign  forms  its 
only  foundation.  ^  " 

'-  The  division  of  hallucinations  ought  to  rest  on  a  previous  and 
deep  study  of  their  states  of  complication  and  simplicity.  But 
this  method,  suitable  for  classification,  would  offer  serious  draw- 
backs to  the  comprehension  of  this  work;  the  reader  would  not 
at  once  seize  on  the  whole  of  the  plan,  his  mind  would  lose  itself 
in  details,  and  the  result  would  be  a  painful  impression,  which 
would  nullify  all  our  efforts.     Under  this  conviction,  we  will  pro- 

*  Max  Parchappe,  Symptomatologie  de  la  folie,  Annales  Médico-Psy- 
chologiques (see  numbers  for  January  and  April,  1850,  and  January, 
1851,  p.  268,  et  seq.). 

t  Walter  Cooper  Dendy,  The  Philosophy  of  Mystery,  London,  1841. 


36  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

ceed  to  sketch  our  classification,  after  having  exhibited  the  most 
generally  adopted  divisions. 

Esquirol  recognizes  only  cerebral,  mental,  or  idiopathic  hallu- 
cinations.    M.  Calmeil  says  that  in  theory  we  may  suppose  that 
symptomatic  hallucinations  exist,  and  that  the  peripheric  nervous 
system  is  the  starting-point  for  the  most  varied  and  perhaps  the 
greatest  number  of  hallucinations.     But,  whether  we  lean  to  the 
theories  of  Capron,  or  rest  upon  those  of  Meyer,  the  sensations 
brought  by  the  sentient  extremities,  which  come  from  the  nerves 
of  sight,  of  hearing,  of  taste,  of  smell,  of  external  and  visceral 
touch,  and  of  the  spinal  marrow,  impress  only  a  shock  on  the 
brain,  and  it  requires  the  action  of  that  organ  to  constitute  the 
operations  of  hallucination. 
\       M.  Leuret  divides  hallucinations  into  those  which  occur  dur- 
1  ing  waking  hours,  and  those  which  take  place  during  sleep,  and 
I  which  are  ordinarily  known  as  visions.     He  includes  incubus  and 
jsuccubus  in  the  hallucinations  of  sleep.  " 

M.  Aubanel,  who  makes  but  one  class  of  hallucinations  and 
illusions,  has  proposed  the  following  division: — 

1.  The  hallucinated  are   fully  aware  of  the  phenomena  they 
,  experience  ;  they  attribute  it  themselves  to  a  freak  of  fancy,  to 

/   a   diseased  imagination;  they  are  perfectly  rational,  sometimes 
I    even  manifesting  a  high  development  of  intellect. 

2.  The  hallucinated  cannot  understand  that  their  false  im- 
pressions are  received  through  any  other  medium  than  their 
senses  ;  they  are  always  careful  to  keep  their  actions  subordinate 
to  the  phenomenon  which  affects  them. 

3.  The  hallucinated  believe  in  the  interposition  of  their  senses, 
and  in  the  reality  of  the  external  impressions  which  occur  to 
them.     These  distinctions  apply  alone  to  isolated  hallucinations. 

In  regard  to  the  hallucinations  of  complex  mental  alienation, 

I    M.  Aubanel  notices  a  sensorial  monomania,  in  which  "the  hal- 

I-  lucinatcd  maintain  a  connected  series  of  ideas,  and  have  none  of 

i    that  disorder  or  incoherence  observable  in  madmen;"  and  a  sen- 

'    sorial  mania,  "made  up  of  numerous  and  various  hallucinations, 

sometimes    lucid,  more    frequently  confused,    each  having    the 

common   characteristic  of  being  insanity  in  itself — that    is   to 

say,  as  incoherent  and  disordered  as  are  actions  and  words  in 

the  frenzy  of  madness." 

Dr.  Paterson,  availing  himself  of  the  works  of  Ferriar,  Heb- 


CLASSIFICATION  OF  HALLUCINATIONS.  3T 

bert,  Abercrombie  and  bis  disciples,  commences  by  dividing  bal- 
lucinations  into  two  great  sections:  1.  Those  of  wakefulness. 
2.  Those  of  dreams.  He  then  proposes  a  new  classification,  the 
most  complete  which  has  been  published  in  England.  It  is  com- 
posed of  seven  groups,  which  comprehend  the  major  part  of 
known  hallucinations,  and  one  of  which  admits  the  existence  of 
hallucinations  with  reason.* 

In  common  with  most  of  the  authors  who  have  preceded  him, 
Mr.  Paterson  combines  hallucinations  and  illusions. 

The  classifications  of  Messrs.  Baillarger  and  Parchappe  have 
already  been  noticed. 

The  classification  that  we  are  about  to  introduce  exhibits  hal- 
lucinations in  a  much  more  extensive  view.  We  recognize  the 
hallucinations  of  illusions,  although  they  constantly  approximate, 
because  their  origin  differs  entirely;  but,  after  having  charac- 
terized their  distinctions,  we  shall  point  out,  in  describing  hallu- 
cinations, what  is  important  to  be  known  of  illusions,  as  it  is  im- 
possible, in  many  circumstances,  that  these  two  forms  of  mental 
aberration  should  be  isolated.  The  same  remark  applies  to  idio- 
pathic and  symptomatic  hallucinations;  however  useful  in  a  sci- 
entific point  of  view,  it  cannot  be  rigorously  maintained  in  a 
history  of  hallucinations. 

These  distinctions  established,  we  shall  proceed  to  divide  hallu- 
cinations into  ten  sections,  shown  in  the  following  table,  but  which, 
from  the  importance  of  many  of  them,  are  also  subdivided: — 

Section  I.  Hallucinations  consistent  with  reason. 

of  sight  ; 


1.  Corrected  by  un- 

derstanding. 

2.  Not  corrected  by 
understanding. 


Comprising 
hallucinations 


of  hearing  ; 

of  smell  ; 

of  taste; 

of  touch  ; 

of  all  the  senses. t 


Section  II.  Simple  hallucinations,  in  themselves  having  the  cha- 
racteristic of  insanity,  without  being  complicated  with  mono- 
mania, mania,  madness,  etc. 

*  Paterson,  Mémoires  sur  plusieurs  cas  d'hallucinations  (Annal.  Mé- 
dico-Psychol.,  1843). 
t  This  subdivision  applies  to  other  sections. 


38  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

Section  III.  Hallucinations  in  their  connection  with  illusions. 
Section  IV.    Compound   hallucinations,    having   in   themselves 
the  characteristic  of  insanity,  existing, 

1.  With  monomania  ; 

2.  With  stupidity  ; 

3.  With  mania  ; 

4.  With  madness  ; 

5.  With  imbecility. 

Section  V.    Hallucinations  resulting  from  delirium  tremens,  in- 
toxication, and  narcotic  substances,  and  venoms. 
Section  VI.  Hallucinations  most  frequent  in  nervous  diseases, 
but  without  the  accessories  of  monomania,  mania,  and  madness. 
1.  With  catalepsy  ; 
'2.  With  epilepsy; 

3.  With  hysteria  ; 

4.  With  hypochondria  ; 

5.  With  rage. 

Section  VII.  Hallucinations  with  nightmare  and  dreams. 

Section  VIII.  Hallucinations  with  ecstasies. 

Section  IX.  Hallucinations  with  febrile,  inflammatory,  and  acute 

diseases,  chronic  and  other  affections,  with  certain  states  of  the 

atmosphere;  namely, 

1.  With  acute  diseases; 

2.  With  fever  ; 

3.  With  diseases  of  the  brain  ; 

4.  With  parenchymatous  inflammations  ; 

5.  With  typhoid  fever; 

6.  With  intermittent  fever  ; 

7.  With  gout,  chlorosis,  pellagra,  etc.  ; 

8.  With  the  last  stages  of  hectic  diseases  ; 

9.  With  syncope,  asphyxia,  lethargy,  convalescence, 

etc.  ; 
10.  With  atmospheric  influences,  etc. 
Section  X.  Epidemic  hallucinations.* 

As  the  subdivision  we  have  presented  appears  to  us  to  compre- 

*  Epidemic  hallucinations  and  illusions  being  noticed  in  the  chapters 
with  which  they  have  more  particular  connection,  we  shall  not  devote  any 
special  article  to  them. 


CLASSIFICATION  OF  HALLUCINATIONS.  89 

hend  all  known  hallucinations,  it  is  evident  that,  when  we  shall 
have  completed  our  examination,  we  shall  have  all  the  materials 
by  whose  aid  we  can  study  their  symptoms,  their  causes,  their 
lesions,  their  prognosis,  their  diagnosis,  and  their  treatment. 
To  make  choice  of  the  most  authentic  facts,  the  most  appropriate 
for  establishing  the  doctrine  of  hallucinations  ;  to  avoid  crowding 
them  together,  the  fault  of  so  many  modern  authors  ;  to  refer 
to  our  own  experience,  whilst  we  glean  from  that  of  the  learned 
both  of  our  own  and  foreign  countries — such  are  the  rules  by 
which  we  propose  to  be  guided  in  our  researches  on  a  subject 
which  bears  relation  to  medicine,  philosophy,  history,  morals, 
and  religion,  and  which  is,  without  doubt,  the  most  interesting  in 
mental  pathology. 


CHAPTER    II. 

HALLUCINATIONS  CONSISTENT  WITH  REASON. 

Influence  of  reverie  in  the  production  of  hallucinations — Distinctions  to  be  esta- 
blished— On  the  reverie  of  Orientals — Belief  in  the  supernatural — 1.  Eecognized, 
spontaneous,  ephemeral,  and  prolonged  hallucinations  ;  2.  Unrecognized  hallu- 
cinations— Causes  of  hallucinations — Observations  borrowed  from  historical 
personages — Their  importance — Recapitulation, 

The  proposition  in  this  book  which  is  most  disputed  is  that  of 
hallucinations  as  consistent  with  reason.  In  order  to  bring  for- 
ward all  the  evidence  of  which  we  think  it  susceptible,  we  must 
penetrate  into  the  region  of  psychological  facts,  analyze  the 
different  states  in  which  hallucination  is  normally  produced,  and 
illustrate  argument  by  well-selected  facts.  Before  entering  on 
these  researches,  it  will  be  well  to  notice  an  error  inseparable 
from  the  subject,  and  into  which  it  is  usual  to  fall:  I  mean  the 
analogies  of  reason  and  lunacy.*  So  long  as  a  proper  distance 
from  the  invisible  limits  of  these  two  worlds  is  maintained,  illu- 
sion is  impossible  ;  but  the  frontier  once  invaded,  confusion  com- 
mences, and  it  becomes  very  difficult  to  distinguish  true  from 
erroneous  ideas,  reality  from  falsehood. 

Let  us  take  an  example  :  The  idea  of  God  is  universal  ;  his 
justice  is  an  attribute  that  cannot  be  separated  from  his  essence  ; 
if,  however,  the  idea  of  justice  should  touch  the  borders  of 
the  fatal  circle,  it  assumes  the  appearance  of  inflexible  severity, 
terror,  chastisement,  and  damnation,  and  too  often  leads  to  sui- 
cide. There  is  no  idea,  which  is  drawn  into  this  orbit,  but  under- 
goes this  terrible  metamorphosis.  The  same  phenomenon  takes 
place  with  images.     In  many  cases  visible  to  the  senses,  but 

*  F.  L61ut,  Le  Démon  de  Socrate,  Récherches  des  Analogies  de  la  Fofie 
et  de  la  Raison,  one  vol.  in  8vo.  p.  321,  Paris,  1836. — Moreau,  Un  chapitre 
oublié  de  la  Pathologie  Mentale,  Paris,  1830. 


HALLUCINATIONS  CONSISTENT  WITH  REASON.  41 

recognized  as  memories,  reminiscences,  creations — sometimes 
accepted  as  the  effect  of  supernatural  power — their  usual  charac- 
ter is  not  to  cause  any  disturbance  of  the  intellect,  nor  exercise 
any  unhappy  influence  on  the  actions  of  life.  It  is  not  thus 
when  the  image  presents  an  actual  form  to  the  mind  which 
slavishly  obeys  it  ;  the  hallucination  passes  from  a  physiological 
to  a  pathological  condition,  and  thence  leads  to  insanity. 

The  existence  of  images,  or  rather  of  physiological  hallucina- 
tions,* is  placed  beyond  all  doubt  by  thousands  of  physical  and 
moral  facts.  Indeed,  they  may  be  caused  by  optical  or  acoustic 
illusion. 

Brewster,  in  his  Letters  on  Natural  3Iagic,-\  has  related  an  ex- 
periment by  Newton,  which  proves  that  any  one  can,  at  his  plea- 
sure, create  hallucinations.  That  great  philosopher,  after  having 
attracted  the  sun  to  a  mirror,  directed  his  glance  by  chance  to 
an  obscure  part  of  the  room  ;  he  was  much  surprised  to  see  the 
solar  spectrum  reproduced,  and  exhibited  by  degrees,  with  all  the 
colors  and  brilliancy  of  the  sun  itself.  The  hallucination  oc- 
curred as  frequently  as  he  turned  his  eyes  towards  the  dark 
spot.| 

Paterson  remarks  that  the  same  phenomenon  takes  place  when 
a  casement  is  highly  illuminated,  and  the  wall  afterwards  looked 
at  ;  the  image  of  the  casement,  with  its  squares  and  its  bars,  is 
quickly  developed  to  your  gaze.§  To  these  two  facts  may  be 
added  the  circumstance  that  individuals  who  concentrate  their 
ideas  on  a  scene,  or  a  mountain  which  they  may  have  noticed  in 
their  travels,  find  it  reproduced  with  extreme  fidelity. 

*  These  remarks  apply  equally  to  illusions. 

f  Sir  David  Brewster,  Letters  on  Natural  Magic,  p.  32,  London,  1832. 

X  I  would  remark  now,  and  once  for  all,  that  all  observations  borrowed 
from  foreign  authors  have  been  translated  by  myself.  Many  physicians 
who  have  written  on  hallucinations  have  given  certain  quotations  which 
they  believed  to  be  literally  taken  from  woi'ks,  more  or  less  known,  whilst 
I  took  the  trouble  to  translate  the  original  text.  Experience  at  my  own 
cost,  and  errors  committed  by  those  who  quote  at  second  and  third  hand, 
have  long  since  given  me  the  habit  of  applying  at  once  to  the  fountain- 
head. 

^  Paterson,  Edinburgh  Medical  and  Surgical  Journal,  No.  cliv.,  January, 
1843. — Mémoires  sur  plusieurs  cas  d'hallucinations,  avec  des  observations 
sur  les  phénomènes  et  les  états  morbides  dans  lesquels  elles  ont  lieu,  trans- 
lated by  A.  Brierre  de  Boismont,  Annales  Médico-Psycho.,  1,  3,  1834. 


42  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

There  is  a  state  of  mind  which  every  one  has  experienced,  and 
"which  shows  with  what  facility  hallucination  can  be  produced:  I 
speak  of  reverie.  A  dear  friend,  M.  Alfred  de  Vigny,  writes 
thus  on  the  subject:  "There  are  two  kinds  of  reverie — that  of 
weak  minds,  and  that  of  deep  thinkers.  Yes,  reverie  leads  to  a 
wilderness  of  ideas  in  the  poor  souls  who  are  in  love  with  thought, 
and  desire  it,  without  being  able  to  obtain  it,  or  to  find  in  it  com- 
plete and  solid  strength.  Certainly  it  is  a  dangerous  labyrinth 
to  those  who  have  neither  a  clear  sight  nor  a  firm  foot  to  dis- 
cover their  road.  But  reverie  is  the  prelude  to  great  creations 
in  minds  like  that  of  St.  Jerome,  who  came  forth  from  the  desert 
stronger  than  when  he  entered  it,  and  reappeared,  armed  and 
mailed  with  his  grand  Christian  books.  With  him,  with  St.  John 
Chrysostom,  with  Descartes,  with  Malebranche,  with  Dante,  with 
Milton,  with  Spinosa,  reverie  is  force,  power,  health,  and  often 
even  longevity.     With  them  solitude  is  holy." 

Meister  likewise  describes  this  creative  power  of  reverie  : 
"Nothing,"  says  he,  "can  throw  a  clearer  light  on  the  habitual 
working  of  our  faculty  of  thinking  than  to  observe  it  by  turns  in 
three  very  different  states — the  state  of  waking,  that  of  sleep, 
and  that  middle  state  between  waking  and  sleeping,  in  which  the 
external  senses  are  rather  in  a  state  of  calm  and  inaction  than 
of  actual  torpidity  ;  in  which  the  activity  of  the  internal  senses 
becomes,  as  it  were,  isolated,  and  it  is  doubtful  whether  we  dream 
or  meditate.  This  state  usually  follows  or  precedes  the  repose 
of  sleep  ;  it  is  also  sometimes  the  result  of  prolonged  meditation 
on  one  object,  or  on  one  idea,  more  particularly  in  the  silence 
of  nature,  in  the  obscurity  of  the  forest,  or  in  the  midst  of  the 
shadows  of  night.  Then  a  single  impression,  a  single  image, 
appears  sometimes  to  remain  long  in  the  thought,  and  hold  it,  as 
it  were,  in  a  state  of  siege;  then  our  understanding  acts  only  by 
intuition.  Entire  scenes,  pictures,  complete  or  in  part,  succeed 
to  the  interior  sense,  now  slowly,  now  with  rapidity.  We  think 
we  see,  and  truly  see,  that  which  we  have  never  seen.  Indeed, 
these  arc  real  phantoms  that  our  imagination,  by  its  sole  power, 
gathers  around  us,  happy  or  unhappy  beneath  the  charm  of  its 
sorcery." 

"  I  am  persuaded  that  devotees,  lovers,  prophets,  lUuminati, 
and  Swedenborgians,  owe  all  the  wonders  of  their  presentiments, 
their  visions,  their  prophecies,  their  conversations  with  celestial 


HALLUCINATIONS  CONSISTENT  WITH  EEASON.  43 

intelligences,  their  journeys  in  heaven,  and  in  hell,  to  the  illusions 
of  which  this  state  of  being  renders  us  susceptible  ;  in  a  word,  all 
the  extravagance  and  superstition  of  their  contagious  reveries. 
But  I  do  not  hesitate,  also,  to  say  that  it  is  probably  in  this 
state  that  men  of  genius  have  conceived  the  most  original  beau- 
ties of  their  works  ;  that  in  it  the  geometrician  has  solved  the 
problem  that  had  long  baffled  him  ;  the  metaphysician  has  seen 
the  first  glimpse  of  the  most  ingenious  of  his  systems  ;  the  poet, 
his  most  beautiful  verse  ;  the  musician,  the  most  expressive  and 
most  brilliant  of  his  passages;  the  statesman,  the  decisive  expe- 
dient that  all  the  light  of  his  experience  had  not  discovered  with 
his  severest  calculations  ;  the  general,  the  expansive  and  rapid 
coup  d'oeil  that  fixes  the  fate  of  a  battle  and  insures  victory." 

We  may  here  notice  the  influence  of  being  on  the  confines  be- 
tween the  true  and  the  fanciful  ;  towards  whichever  side  we 
lean,  reverie  is  the  great  source  of  great  actions  or  rash  enter- 
prises. 

Carried  away  by  these  waking  dreams,  these  castles  in  the 
air,  so  familiar  to  us.  and  which  substitute  such  sweet  illusions 
for  the  sad  realities  of  life,  our  thoughts  are  illuminated,  our  idle 
fancies  become  embodied,  and  we  see  before  us,  under  sensible 
forms,  all  the  objects  of  our  wishes.  Who,  for  example,  has  not 
a  hundred  times  contemplated  the  figure  of  his  beloved;  or,  if 
he  be  enamored  of  glory,  has  not  distinctly  heard  the  sound  of 
clarions,  and  the  cries  of  the  combatants  ? 

All  who  have  lived  in  the  East,  or  written  of  that  glorious 
country,  have  spoken  of  the  powerful  efiect  of  the  climate  on  the 
imagination  of  the  inhabitants.  It  is  averred  that  there  exist 
substances  in  that  part  of  the  world  that  throw  the  mind  into  ec- 
stasies. "For  myself,"  says  M.  Paul  de  Molènes,  " I  have  always 
thought  that  the  heaven  under  which  the  Arab  folds  and  unfolds 
his  tent  is  the  most  efi"ectual  source  of  reverie  in  which  the  soul 
can  be  steeped.  The  Orientals  do  not,  like  ourselves,  know  the 
debasing  and  loquacious  intoxication  of  wine,  of  brandy,  of  beer, 
and  of  all  those  liquors  that  disfigure  the  features,  disorder  the 
mind,  and  imprint  extravagance  on  the  tongue  ;  but  they  possess 
the  secret  of  that  noble  and  silent  intoxication  of  heaven,  of  soli- 
tude, space,  and  of  those  divine  things  which  give  an  august  cha- 
racter to  the  countenance,  and  illumine  thought  with  the  trans- 
parencies  of  vision,  and  place  a  sacred  seal  on  the  lips,  broken  at 


44  '       ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

rare  intervals  by  a  few  solemn  words.  It  is  of  this  intoxication^ 
which  those  who  have  once  indulged  in  never  renounce,  that  the 
recital  of  Cambi  (Sid-el- Adj-Mohammed,  member  of  the  tribe  of 
Chambas)  is  full.  Amongst  the  mysterious  facts  that  I  amused 
myself  in  gathering  from  the  curious  details  of  this  peregrination, 
is  one  that  appeared  to  me  striking.  Chambi  relates  that,  during 
one  of  the  numerous  halts  of  his  journey,  a  gentle  and  frater- 
nal exaltation  seized  him  and  all  his  companions.  A  sort  of  in- 
visible mirao-e  exhibited  to  the  whole  caravan  the  image  of  their 
absent  country,  and  threw  into  inexpressible  tenderness  the  weary 
souls  of  these  pilgrims.  What  heavenly  influence  spread  over  all 
these  hearts  the  same  emotion,  and  animated  all  these  minds  with 
the  same  thoughts,  at  the  same  moment  ?  It  is  a  secret  of  God, 
and  of  the  desert.  But  I  love  the  country,  and  I  love  the  book  in 
which  such  secrets  are  offered  to  our  meditation."* 

Such  is  likewise  the  opinion  of  M.  Combes  the  younger  :  "The 
Oriental,"  he  remarks,  "is  indolent  and  voluptuous.  The  keff 
is  as  essential  to  his  existence  as  the  bread  which  he  eats,  or  the 
clothes  that  cover  him.  An  Arab,  be  he  rich  or  poor,  who  can- 
not indulge  during  the  day  in  his  keff,  is  a  most  unhappy  man. 
But,  you  inquire,  what  is  this  keft'?  The  word  has  no  corre- 
sponding word  in  our  language;  and  the  Italians,  in  translating  it 
as  '  far  niente'  (complete  idleness),  give  but  a  very  imperfect  idea 
of  its  real  significance.  The  keffis  a  reverie,  happiness  in  repose; 
it  is  a  kind  of  beatitude  in  which  the  individual  is  plunged,  and 
from  which  he  would  wish  never  to  be  aroused.  The  Orientals 
rarely  think;  it  is  too  fatiguing.  During  the  keff,  the  hours  of 
which  are  regulated,  and  of  which  no  motive  would  induce  them 
voluntarily  to  deprive  themselves,  their  imagination,  capricious 
and  wandering,  is  without  end,  and  without  object  ;  it  loves  to  be 
lost  in  a  world  of  fancy,  and  to  feast  on  vain  chimeras.  In  these 
ecstatic  hours,  the  Orientals  are  all  poets,  but  egotists  who  produce 
nothing,  "f 

It  is  to  this  power  of  imagination  that  we  owe  those  wonderful 
tales  which  are  the  charm  of  the  Orientals.  It  is  this  which 
peoples  the  bowels  of  the  earth  with  genii,  magicians,  and 
palaces  filled  with  treasure,  and  fancies  in  every  European,  who 

*  Des  ouvrages  du  Général  Daumas  (Article  do  M.  Paul  de  Mulènes, 
Journal  des  Débuts,  du  4  Mars,  1851). 
t  Voyage  eu  Egypt  et  en  Nubie. 


HALLUCINATIONS  CONSISTENT  WITH  REASON.  45 

excavates  ruins  to  find  the  remains  of  antiquity,  a  magician 
invoking  the  guardian  genii  of  the  treasures,  in  order  to  possess 
himself  of  them. 

The  reverie,  then,  is  eminently  favorable  to  the  production  of 
physiological  hallucinations  ;  and  it  is  easy  to  deduce  from  thence, 
how,  with  deep  thinkers,  it  may  be  the  cause  of  admirable  cJiefs- 
d' œuvres. 

Hence  poets,  painters,  sculptors,  whom  genius  has  touched 
with  his  wing,  have  all  perceived  before  them  the  form  of  the 
ideal  of  their  dreams  ;  their  biographies  prove  that  this  form  was 
visible  to  the  eyes  of  their  minds  (like  the  ghost  of  Banque  in 
Macbeth),  and  often  even  to  their  bodily  eyes.  Moreover,  we  do 
not  believe  that  there  are  immortal  creations  without  this  mate- 
rialization of  the  ideal.  It  is  the  characteristic  sign  of  the 
artists  of  antiquity,  and  of  those  of  the  Middle  Ages  ;  and  if  few 
can  now  equal  them,  it  is  because  that  profound  belief  which 
elevated  the  soul  to  the  highest  degree  of  enthusiasm  has  almost 
entirely  ceased  amongst  enlightened  people,  who,  on  the  contrary, 
profess  to  believe  nothing. 

Having  reserved  hallucinations  in  relation  to  psychology  for 
a  special  chapter,  we  will  not  enter  on  the  examination  of  dreams, 
of  certain  states  of  infancy,  of  authentic  phenomena  of  magnet- 
ism and  somnambulism,  etc.  ;  our  object  here  is  simply  to  prove 
that  hallucination  is  consistent  with  reason.  The  two  classes 
that  we  have  established  are  distinguished  one  from  the  other,  by 
the  excess  and  the  intensity  of  the  phenomenon.  In  a  reasona- 
ble state,  the  image  may  preserve  the  vividness  of  the  original, 
but  it  is  in  general  recognized  as  a  creation  of  the  imagination, 
and  is  of  short  duration  ;  in  the  delirious  state,  on  the  contrary, 
the  brain  paints  its  pictures  with  more  force  than  they  possess  in 
reality  ;  these  are  detached  from  self,  take  an  existence  inde- 
pendent of  the  individual,  and  disturb  the  mental  faculties. 

The  psychological  study  of  man,  then,  proves  that  hallucina- 
tion can  exist  without  disordering  the  mind.  We  will  describe 
several  curious  cases  in  support  of  this  doctrine,  and  divide  them 
into  two  sections  :  1.  Hallucinations  corrected  by  the  under- 
standing; 2.  Hallucinations  not  corrected  by  the  understanding: 
perfect  sanity,  in  both  cases. 

The  hallucinations  of  the  first  section  may  continue  for  a 
length  of  time.     In  certain  cases,  they  are  conjured  up  at  will. 


46  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

Subsection  I. — Hallucinations  consistent  ivith  reason,  cor- 
rected ly  the  understanding . 

Case  I.  "A  painter  who  inherited  much  of  the  patronage  of 
the  celebrated  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds,  and  believed  himself  to 
possess  a  talent  superior  to  his,  was  so  fully  engaged,  that  he  told 
me,"  said  Wigan,  "he  had  painted  three  hundred  large  and  small 
portraits  in  one  year.  The  fact  appeared  physically  impossible  ; 
but  the  sciCret  of  his  rapidity  and  his  astonishing  success  was 
this  ;  he  required  but  one  sitting  of  his  model.  I  watched  him 
paint  a  portrait  in  miniature  in  eight  hours,  of  a  gentleman  whom 
I  well  knew;  it  was  carefully  done,  and  the  resemblance  was 
perfect.  I  begged  him  to  detail  to  me  his  method  of  procedure, 
and  he  related  what  follows  :  '  When  a  sitter  came,  I  looked  atten- 
tively on  him  for  half  an  hour,  sketching  from  time  to  time  on 
the  canvas.  I  did  not  require  a  longer  sitting.  I  removed  the 
canvas,  and  passed  to  another  person.  When  I  wished  to  con- 
tinue the  first  portrait,  I  recalled  the  man  to  my  mind;  I  placed 
him  on  the  chair,  where  I  perceived  him  as  distinctly  as  if  he 
were  really  there;  and  I  may  add,  in  form  and  color  more 
decided  and  brilliant.  I  looked  from  time  to  time  at  the  imagi- 
nary figure,  and  went  on  painting  ;  occasionally  stopping  to 
examine  the  posture  exactly  as  though  the  original  were  before 
me  ;  whenever  I  looked  towards  the  chair,  I  saw  the  man. 

"  'This  method  made  me  very  popular,  and  as  I  always  caught 
the  resemblance,  the  sitters  were  delighted  that  I  spared  them 
the  annoying  sittings  of  other  painters.  In  this  way  I  laid  by 
much  money  for  myself  and  my  children. 

"  '  By  degrees  I  began  to  lose  all  distinction  between  the  imagi- 
nary and  the  real  figure,  and  I  sometimes  insisted  to  my  sitters 
that  they  had  sat  the  day  before.  Finally,  I  was  persuaded  that 
it  was  so,  and  then  all  became  confusion.  I  recollect  nothing 
more.  I  lost  my  reason,  and  remained  for  thirty  years  in  an 
asylum.  With  the  exception  of  the  last  six  months  of  my  con- 
finement, I  recollect  nothing  ;  it  however  appears  to  me,  that 
when  I  hear  persons  speak  of  their  visit  to  the  establishment,  I 
have  a  faint  recollection  of  them,  but  I  will  not  dwell  on  this 
subject.' 

"What  is  most  surprising  is  that  when  this  artist  reassumed 
his  pencil,  after  the  lapse  of  thirty  years,  he  painted  almost  as 
well  as  when  madness  obliged  him  to  renounce  his  art.  His 
imagination  was  still  very  vivid,  as  was  proved  by  the  portrait 


HALLUCINATIONS  CONSISTENT  WITH  REASON.  47 

which  I  saw  him  take,  for  which  he  only  required  two  sittings  of 
half  an  hour  each,  the  last  of  which  was  to  look  at  the  dress  and 
the  eyehrows,  which  his  memory  had  not  retained.  As  it  was 
feared  that  the  excitement,  consequent  on  this  work,  would  be 
productive  of  unhappy  results,  he  was  persuaded  to  renounce 
the  practice  of  his  art.     He  died  shortly  afterwards."* 

This  power  of  invoking  shadows,  and  peopling  solitudes,  may 
be  carried  so  far  as  to  transform  individuals  present  into  phan- 
toms. 

Case  II.  Hyacinth  Langlois,  a  celebrated  artist  of  the  city 
of  Rouen,  intimately  acquainted  with  Talma,  related  that  this 
great  artist  had  confided  to  him  the  fact  that,  when  he  trod  the 
stage,  he  could,  by  the  force  of  his  will,  make  all  the  brilliant 
dresses  of  his  numerous  audience  disappear,  and  substitute 
skeletons  for  the  living  characters.  When  his  imagination  had 
thus  filled  the  theatre  with  these  singular  spectators,  his  emo- 
tions were  such  as  to  give  to  his  play  a  force  which  produced  the 
most  striking  effects. 

Since  hallucination  can  in  such  a  case  be  invoked  at  will,  it  is 
easy  to  conceive  that  it  may  exhibit  itself  instantaneously. 

Case  III.  Bottex  relates  that  a  man  employed  in  a  brew- 
house  in  Strasburg,  having  gone  to  Saint  Etienne,  inhabited  the 
latter  town  for  about  two  months,  when  he  one  night  heard 
something  walk  round  his  bed,  and  pass  over  the  coverlet  ;  the 
next  day,  at  the  same  hour,  the  same  noise  ;  but  then  he  dis- 
tinctly heard  these  words:  "Ah!  I  have  found  you,  then!"  He 
recognized  the  voice  of  a  young  person  whom  he  had  left  at 
Strasburg. 

Thenceforward,  the  voice  followed  him  everywhere  ;  asked  for 
money,  spoke  of  marriage,  and  menaced  him  with  the  devil  if  he 
did  not  comply  with  her  wishes  ;  in  fact,  she  so  tormented  him 
that  he  could  neither  work  nor  sleep,  so  he  resolved  to  enter  a 
hospital  at  Lyons. 

He  did  not  see  the  woman  who  spoke  to  him,  but  distinctly 
heard  her  voice  ;  and  no  hour  passed  that  she  did  not  talk  to 
him.  When  requested  to  listen  to  her,  he  leaned  his  head  to 
the  left,  and  immediately  heard  her  ;  when  he  repeated  word  for 
word  what  she  said. 

*  A.  L.  Wigan,  M.  D.,  A  New  View  of  Insanity,  the  Duality  of  the  Mind, 
p.  123,  London,  1844. 


48  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

This  man  was  perfectly  sane  ;  he  knew  perfectly  well  that  the 
woman  whose  voice  he  heard  was  not  near  him.  "  She  inust," 
said  he,  laughing,  "have  made  a  compact  with  the  devil."  He 
could  not  explain  what  he  experienced  otherwise  ;  but  he  did 
not  hold  on  to  the  idea,  knowing  it  to  be  absurd.  By  degrees, 
the  voice  addressed  him  more  rarely  ;  finally,  he  no  longer  heard 
her,  and  went  out  cured  at  the  end  of  a  month. 

Case  IV.  A  lady  about  sixty  years  of  age,  of  extremely  ner- 
vous susceptibility,  was  from  time  to  time  aifected  with  singular 
visions.  Suddenly  she  would  see  a  robber  enter  her  chamber, 
and  conceal  himself  under  her  bed  ;  she  was  instantly  seized 
with  violent  palpitations  of  the  heart,  and  universal  trembling. 
She  was,  nevertheless,  perfectly  aware  of  the  falsity  of  these 
impressions,  and  her  reason  made  great  efforts  to  dissipate  the 
fears  which  they  awoke  in  her  mind. 

Satisfied  that  no  person  could  have  entered  her  room,  the  lady 
resisted  the  impulse  which  led  her  to  open  the  windows  and  call 
for  assistance  ;  after  a  struggle  of  some  minutes,  reason  finally 
triumphed,  and  she  was  restored  to  calmness  ;  she  would  then 
approach  the  bed,  and  examine  it  without  fear  and  with  great 
satirfaction.  "  I  frequently  witnessed,"  says  Mathey,  "  the  cour- 
ageous efibrts  of  the  lady  to  free  herself  from  the  fantastic  ideas 
of  all  kinds  that  beset  her." 

Hallucination,  although  understood  and  appreciated  as  such, 
by  the  person  under  its  influence,  may,  by  its  frequency  and 
duration,  produce  so  unhappy  an  effect  on  the  mind  as  to  cause 
death. 

Case  V.  "I  knew,"  said  Wigan,  "a  very  intelligent  and 
amiable  man,  who  had  the  power  of  placing  before  him  his  own 
image  ;  he  often  laughed  heartily  at  the  sight  of  his  resemblance, 
which  also  always  appeared  laughing.  For  a  length  of  time 
this  illusion  was  a  subject  of  amusement  and  pleasantry  ;  but  the 
result  was  deplorable.  By  degrees  he  became  persuaded  that 
he  was  haunted  by  his  double.  This  other  disputed  obstinately 
with  him,  and  to  his  great  mortification,  occasionally  confuted 
him,  which  was  humiliating,  inasmuch  as  he  had  a  great  opinion 
of  his  own  judgment.  This  gentleman,  although  eccentric,  was 
never  subjected  to  restraint  or  confinement.  Finally,  wearied 
out,  he  resolved  not  to  enter  on  another  year,  paid  all  his  debts, 
wrapped  in  separate  papers  the  amount  of  the  week's  expenses, 


HALLUCINATIONS  CONSISTENT  WITH  REASON.  49 

and  awaited,  pistol  in  hand,  the  night  of  the  31st  of  December. 
At  the  moment  when  the  clock  struck  twelve,  he  blew  out  his 
brains." 

Case  VI.  We  owe  to  a  very  eminent  physician  of  acknowledged 
reputation,  and  intimate  with  Sir  Walter  Scott,  the  recital  of  a 
fact  that  occurred  to  a  well-known  personage,  which  is,  without 
contradiction,  one  of  the  most  curious  examples  that  can  be 
offered  in  the  history  of  hallucination.  The  physician  was,  by 
chance,  called  on  to  attend  a  man,  now  long  deceased,  who, 
during  his  life,  filled  an  important  office  in  a  particular  depart- 
ment of  justice.  His  functions  made  him  frequently  an  arbiter 
of  the  interests  of  others  ;  his  conduct  was  therefore  open  to 
public  observation,  and  for  a  series  of  years  he  enjoyed  a  repu- 
tation for  uncommon  firmness,  good  sense,  and  integrity. 

At  the  time  when  the  physician  visited  him,  he  kept  his  room, 
sometimes  his  bed,  and  yet  he  continued  now  and  then  to  engage 
in  the  duties  of  his  office  ;  his  mind  displayed  its  usual  force 
and  habitual  energy  in  directing  the  business  which  devolved 
on  him,  A  superficial  observer  would  not  have  noticed  anything 
indicative  of  weakness  or  oppression  of  mind.  The  external 
symptoms  announced  no  acute  or  alarming  illness  ;  but  the  slow- 
ness of  his  pulse,  the  failure  of  his  appetite,  a  painful  digestion, 
and  an  unceasing  sadness,  appeared  to  have  their  source  in  some 
cause  which  the  invalid  was  resolved  to  conceal. 

The  gloomy  air  of  the  unhappy  man,  the  embarrassment  which 
he  could  not  disguise,  the  constraint  with  which  he  replied  briefly 
to  the  questions  of  the  physician,  induced  the  latter  to  apply  to 
his  family,  who  could  not  give  him  an^  satisfactory  information. 

The  physician  then  had  recourse  to  arguments  calculated  to 
make  a  strong  impression  on  the  mind  of  the  patient.  He 
pointed  out  the  folly  of  devoting  himself  to  a  slow  death  rather 
than  communicate  the  secret  of  the  grief  which  was  dragging 
him  to  the  grave.  Above  all,  he  represented  the  injury  he  was 
inflicting  on  his  own  reputation,  by  creating  a  suspicion  that  the 
cause  of  his  affliction,  and  the  consequences  resulting,  were  of  too 
disgraceful  and  criminal  a  character  to  be  owned  ;  and  added, 
that  he  would  bequeath  to  his  family  a  suspected  and  dishonored 
name,  and  leave  a  memory  to  which  would  be  attached  the  idea 
of  some  crime,  which  he  dared  not  own,  even  in  his  dying  hour. 
This  latter  argument  made  more  impression  than  any  which  had 
4 


50  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

been  previously  started,  and  he  expressed  a  desire  to  unbosom 
himself  frankly  to  the  doctor.  They  were  left  together,  the 
door  of  the  sick  man's  room  was  carefully  closed,  and  he  began 
his  confession  in  the  following  manner  : — 

"  You  cannot,  my  dear  friend,  be  more  convinced  than  myself 
of  the  death  that  threatens  me  ;  but  you  cannot  comprehend  the 
nature  of  the  disease,  nor  the  manner  in  which  it  acts  upon  me  ; 
and  even  if  you  could,  I  doubt  if  either  your  zeal  or  your  talents 
could  cure  me."  "It  is  possible,"  replied  the  physician,  "that 
my  talents  would  not  be  equal  to  the  desire  I  have  to  be  useful 
to  you,  but  medical  science  has  many  resources,  which  only  those 
who  have  studied,  can  appreciate.  However,  unless  you  clearly  de- 
scribe your  symptoms,  it  is  impossible  to  say  whether  it  is  in  my 
power,  or  in  that  of  medicine  to  relieve  you."  "I  assure  you," 
replied  the  patient,  "  that  my  situation  is  not  unique,  for  there 
is  a  similar  example  in  the  celebrated  romance  of  Le  Sage. 
Without  doubt,  you  remember  by  what  disease  the  Duke  of 
Olivares  died  ?  He  was  overcome  by  the  idea  that  he  was  fol- 
lowed by  an  apparition,  in  whose  existence  he  did  not  believe  ; 
and  he  died  because  the  presence  of  this  vision  conquered  his 
strength,  and  broke  his  heart.  Well,  my  dear  doctor,  mine  is  a 
similar  case  ;  and  the  vision  that  persecutes  me  is  so  painful  and 
so  frightful,  that  my  reason  is  quite  inadequate  to  combat  the 
effects  of  a  frenzied  imagination,  and  I  feel  that  I  shall  die,  the 
victim  of  an  imaginary  malady." 

The  physician  attentively  listened  to  the  recital,  and  judi- 
ciously abstained  from  any  contradiction  ;  he  contented  himself 
with  asking  for  more  circumstantial  details  of  the  nature  of  the 
apparition  that  persecuted  him,  and  of  the  manner  in  which  so 
singular  an  affection  had  seized  on  his  imagination,  which,  it 
would  appear,  a  very  moderate  exercise  of  understanding  would 
have  succeeded  in  destroying.  The  patient  replied  that  the 
attack  had  been  gradual,  and  that,  in  the  commencement,  it  was 
neither  terrible  nor  very  unpleasant;  and  the  progress  of  his  suf- 
ferings was  as  follows  : — 

"My  visions,"  said  he,  "began  two  or  three  years  ago.  I  was 
then  annoyed  by  the  presence  of  a  great  cat,  which  came  and 
disappeared  I  knew  not  how;  but  I  did  not  continue  long  in 
doubt,  for  I  perceived  that  this  domestic  animal  was  the  result 
of  a  vision  produced  by  a  derangement  in  the  organs  of  sight,  or 


HALLUCINATIONS  CONSISTENT  WITH  REASON.  51 

of  the  imagination.  However,  I  have  not  the  same  antipathy  to 
these  animals  as  that  brave  mountain-chief,  now  dead,  whose  face 
turned  all  the  colors  of  his  plaid,  if  in  a  room  with  a  cat,  even 
though  he  did  not  see  it.  On  the  contrary,  I  rather  like  them,  and 
I  endured  the  presence  of  my  imaginary  companion  with  a  degree 
of  patience  that  almost  amounted  to  indifference.  But,  at  the  end 
of  a  few  months,  the  cat  disappeared,  and  was  succeeded  by  a 
phantom  of  a  higher  grade,  and  whose  exterior  was  at  least  more 
imposing.  It  was  no  other  than  a  gentleman-usher,  dressed  as 
though  he  were  in  the  service  of  the  Lord-Lieutenant  of  Ireland, 
or  of  a  great  functionary  of  the  church,  or  of  any  other  person 
of  rank  or  dignity. 

"  This  character,  in  a  court-dress,  with  bag  wig,  a  sword  by  his 
side,  a  vest  worked  in  tambour,  and  a  chapeau-bras,  glided  by 
my  side  like  the  shade  of  Beau  Nash.  Whether  in  my  own  house, 
or  elsewhere,  he  mounted  the  stairs  before  me,  as  if  to  announce 
me.  Sometimes  he  mixed  in  with  the  company,  although  it  was 
evident  that  no  one  remarked  his  presence,  and  that  I  alone 
witnessed  the  chimerical  honors  he  paid  me.  This  caprice  of 
imagination  did  not  make  a  strong  impression  on  me;  but  it 
raised  a  question  as  to  the  nature  of  the  disease,  and  I  began 
to  fear  the  effect  it  might  have  on  my  senses.  This  apparition 
also  had  its  term.  After  a  few  months,  my  gentleman-usher  was  no 
more  seen,  but  was  replaced  by  a  phantom  horrible  to  the  sight, 
and  distressing  to  the  mind — a-skelelon.  Alone,  or  in  society," 
added  the  unfortunate  man,  "this  apparition  never  leaves  me. 
It  is  in  vain  that  I  repeat  to  myself  that  it  has  no  reality,  that 
it  is  but  an  illusion  caused  by  the  derangement  of  my  sight,  or  a 
disordered  imagination.  Of  what  use  are  such  reflections,  when 
the  presage  and  the  emblem  of  death  is  constantly  before  my 
eyes  ?  when  I  see  myself,  although  only  in  imagination,  forever 
the  companion  of  a  phantom  representing  the  gloomy  inhabitant 
of  the  tomb,  whilst  I  am  still  upon  earth?  Neither  science, 
philosophy,  nor  even  religion  has  a  remedy  for  such  a  disease; 
and  I  too  truly  feel  that  I  shall  die  this  cruel  death,  although  I 
have  no  faith  in  the  reality  of  the  spectre  that  is  always  pre- 
sent." 

The  physician  was  pained  to  see  how  deeply  this  vision  was 
rooted  in  the  mind  of  the  invalid,  who  was  then  in  bed.  He 
adroitly  pressed  him  with  questions  as  to  the  apparition;  knowing 


52  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

him  to  be  a  sensible  man,  he  hoped  to  make  him  fall  into  contra- 
dictions, which  would  put  his  judgment,  to  all  appearance  clear, 
in  a  state  fitted  to  combat  successfully  the  disordered  imagina- 
tion, which  was  producing  such  fatal  effects.  "It  would  appear, 
then,"  said  he,  "that  this  skeleton  is  ever  before  you?"  "It 
is  my  hapless  destiny  to  see  it  always,"  replied  the  sick  man. 
"In  this  case,"  continued  the  doctor,  "you  see  it  now."  "Yes." 
"In  what  part  of  the  room  does  it  appear  to  you?"  "At  the 
foot  of  my  bed  ;  when  the  curtains  are  a  little  open,  it  places 
itself  between  them,  and  fills  the  opening."  "You  say  that  you 
understand  it  to  be  only  an  illusion? — In  dreams  we  are  fre- 
quently aware  that  the  apparition  which  freezes  us  with  fear  is 
false  ;  but  we  cannot,  nevertheless,  overcome  the  terror  that  op- 
presses us.  Have  you  firmness  enough  to  be  positively  con- 
vinced? Can  you  rise,  and  take  the  place  which  the  spectre 
appears  to  occupy,  in  order  to  assure  yourself  that  it  is  a  real 
illusion?"  The  poor  man  sighed,  and  shook  his  head.  "Well, 
then,"  said  the  doctor,  "we  will  try  another  plan."  He  quitted 
the  chair  on  which  he  had  been  seated  at  the  head  of  the  bed, 
and,  placing  himself  between  the  open  curtains,  in  the  spot 
pointed  out  as  being  occupied  by  the  apparition,  he  inquired  if 
the  skeleton  was  yet  visible.  "Much  less,  because  you  are  be- 
tween it  and  me,  but  I  see  the  skull  over  your  shoulder." 

It  is  said  that,  in  spite  of  his  philosophy,  the  learned  doctor 
shuddered  at  a  reply  so  distinctly  announcing  that  the  ideal 
spectre  was  behind  him.  He  had  recourse  to  other  experiments, 
and  employed  various  methods  of  cure,  but  in  vain.  The  pa- 
tient became  more  and  more  dejected,  and  died  a  victim  to  the 
agony  in  which  his  latter  years  had  been  passed. 

Here  is  an  unexceptionable  proof  of  the  power  the  imagina- 
tion has  on  the  body,  even  when  the  fantastic  terrors  it  occa- 
sions cannot  destroy  the  judgment  of  the  unfortunate  being  who 
suffers  them.  The  patient,  in  this  case,  perished,  the  victim 
of  a  hallucination  ;  and  the  details  of  this  singular  history  being 
kept  secret,  his  death  and  disease  did  not  injure  the  well-merited 
reputation  for  prudence  and  acuteness  which  he  had  enjoyed 
during  the  whole  course  of  his  life.* 

In  many  cases,  hallucination  attaches  itself  to  a  weakly  con- 

*  Walter  Scott,  History  of  Demonology  and  Witchcraft. 


HALLUCINATIONS  CONSISTENT  WITH  KEASON.  53 

stitution.  Bonnet,  and  La  Place  in  his  Essai  Philosophique  sur 
les  Prohahilités  (pp.  224-226),  have  mentioned  a  fact  of  this 
nature  relating  to  a  maternal  grandfather  of  the  former  of  these 
physicians.* 

One  of  the  most  interesting  narratives  of  this  character  is 
that  which  was  published  a  few  years  since  by  the  bookseller 
Nicolai,  of  Berlin: — 

Case  VII.  "  During  the  latter  six  months  of  the  year  1790," 
that  academician  relates,  "I  had  endured  griefs  that  most  deeply 
affected  me.  Dr.  Selle,  who  was  accustomed  to  bleed  me  twice 
a  year,  had  deemed  it  advisable  to  do  so  but  once.  On  the  24th 
of  February,  1791,  after  a  sharp  altercation,  I  suddenly  perceived, 
at  the  distance  of  ten  paces,  a  dead  body  ;  I  inquired  of  my  wife 
if  she  did  not  see  it  ;  my  question  alarmed  her  much,  and  she 
hastened  to  send  for  a  doctor  ;  the  apparition  lasted  eight  min- 
utes. At  four  in  the  afternoon,  the  same  vision  reappeared  ;  I 
was  then  alone  ;  much  disturbed  by  it,  I  went  to  my  wife's  apart- 
ment ;  the  vision  followed  me.  At  six,  I  perceived  several  fig- 
ures that  had  no  connection  with  the  others. 

"  When  the  first  alarm  had  subsided,  I  watched  the  phantoms, 
taking  them  for  what  they  really  were,  the  results  of  an  indispo- 
sition. Full  of  this  idea,  I  carefully  examined  them,  endeavor- 
ing to  trace  by  what  association  of  ideas  these  forms  were  pre- 
sented to  my  imagination  ;  I  could  not,  however,  connect  them 
with  my  occupations,  my  thoughts,  or  my  works.  On  the 
following  day,  the  figure  of  the  corpse  disappeared,  but  was 
replaced  by  a  great  many  other  figures  representing  sometimes 
friends,  but  more  generally  strangers.  None  of  my  intimate 
friends  were  amongst  these  apparitions,  which  were  almost  ex- 
clusively composed  of  individuals  inhabiting  places  more  or  less 
distant.  I  attempted  to  produce  at  will  persons  of  my  acquaint- 
ance by  an  intense  objectivity  of  their  persons  ;  but  although  I 
could  see  two  or  three  of  them  distinctly  in  my  mind,  I  could 
not  succeed  in  making  exterior  the  interior  perception,  although 
I  had  before  seen  them  in  that  manner  involuntarily,  and  though 
I  saw  them  afresh  when  not  thinking  of  them.  The  disposition 
of  my  mind  prevented  me  from  confounding  those  false  appear- 
ances with  reality. 

*  Bonnet,  Essai  analytique  sur  l'Ame,  ch.  xxiii.  p.  426. 


54  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

"  These  visions  were  as  clear  and  distinct  in  solitude  as  in 
company,  by  day  as  by  night,  in  the  street  as  in  the  house  :  they 
were  only  less  frequent  at  the  houses  of  others  ;  when  I  closed 
my  eyes,  they  sometimes  disappeared,  although  there  were  cases 
in  which  they  were  visible  ;  but  so  soon  as  I  opened  them,  they 
reappeared  immediately.  In  general,  these  figures,  which  were 
of  both  sexes,  appeared  to  pay  but  little  attention  to  each  other, 
and  walked  about  with  a  busy  air,  as  though  in  a  market  ;  occa- 
sionally, however,  they  appeared  to  hold  intercourse  together.  At 
different  times,  I  saw  men  on  horseback  with  dogs  and  horses. 
There  was  nothing  remarkable  either  in  their  looks,  shapes,  or 
in  their  dress  ;  only  they  appeared  rather  paler  than  in  a  natu- 
ral state. 

"About  four  weeks  afterwards,  the  number  of  these  apparitions 
increased;  I  began  to  hear  them  speak;  sometimes  they  conversed 
together,  but  more  generally  addressed  their  conversation  to  me, 
which  was  brief  and  agreeable.  At  different  times,  I  considered 
them  as  tender  friends  who  sought  to  soften  my  griefs. 

"  Although  at  this  period  I  was  well  both  in  body  and  mind, 
and  these  spectres  had  become  so  familiar  as  not  to  cause  me  the 
slightest  uneasiness,  I  nevertheless  endeavored  to  dispel  them  by 
suitable  remedies.  It  was  resolved  that  an  application  of  leeches 
should  be  made,  which  was  accordingly  done  on  the  20th  of  April, 
1791,  at  11  A.  M.  The  surgeon  was  alone  with  me  ;  during  the 
operation,  my  chamber  was  filled  with  human  figures  of  all  kinds. 
This  hallucination  continued  uninterruptedly  until  half  after  four, 
at  which  time  digestion  commenced.  I  then  observed  that  the 
movement  of  these  phantoms  became  slower.  They  shortly 
began  to  grow  paler,  and  at  seven  o'clock  had  become  perfectly 
white.  Their  movements  were  rather  more  rapid,  although  their 
forms  were  as  distinct  as  before.  By  degrees  they  became  more 
misty,  and  appeared  to  melt  into  air,  although  some  were  still 
apparent  for  a  considerable  length  of  time.  By  eight  the  room 
was  entirely  cleared  of  these  fantastic  visitors.  Since  then,  I 
have  several  times  thought  that  the  visions  were  about  to  return, 
but  they  have  not."* 

*  John  Ferriar,  An  Essay  towards  a  Theory  of  Apparitions,  p.  40, 
London,  1813. — Memoir  on  the  Appearance  of  Spectres  or  Phantoms  occa- 
sioned by  Disease,  with  Psychological  Remarks.  Read  by  Nicolai  to  the 
Royal  Society  of  Berlin,  on  the  28th  of  February,  1799.  The  translation 
of  this  paper  is  given  in  Nicholson's  Journal,  vol.  vi.  p.  161. 


HALLUCINATIONS  CONSISTENT  WITH  REASON.  55 

We  cannot  too  strongly  draw  attention  to  the  physiology  of 
these  hallucinations  of  sight  and  hearing,  experienced  by  a  man 
who  perfectly  analyzed  his  feelings,  and  who  was  careful  to 
remark  that  this  astonishing  disorder  of  the  mind  could  be  alone 
explained  by  the  influence  of  grief,  and  by  a  disturbance  in  the 
cerebral  circulation  consequent  on  it. 

Case  VIIL  "On  the  26th  of  December,  1830,"  says  Sir  D. 
Brewster,*  "Mrs.  A.  was  seated  near  the  fire  in  her  parlor,  and 
was  about  going  up  stairs  to  dress,  when  she  heard  the  voice  of 
her  husband,  who  called  her  by  name,  and  said,  '  Come  here,  come 
here  !'  Imagining  that  he  was  at  the  door,  she  desired  some  one 
to  open  it,  when  she  was  astonished  to  find  no  one  there.  On  her 
return  into  the  parlor,  she  heard  the  voice  a  second  and  a  third 
time.  It  was  plaintive,  and  slightly  impatient.  Mrs.  A.  answered 
aloud  :  '  Where  are  you  ?  I  do  not  know  where  you  are.'  Not 
receiving  any  reply,  the  lady  went  back  to  her  room. 

"  Mr.  A.  returned  in  about  half  an  hour,  when  his  wife,  who 
was  as  yet  undeceived,  inquired  why  he  had  called  her  several 
times,  and  where  he  was.  But  she  was  much  surprised  to  hear 
that  he  had  not  been  in  the  house." 

Brewster  adds  that  Mrs.  A.  had  suffered  much  for  six  weeks 
with  a  cold,  that  weakened  her  exceedingly.  Her  stomach  was 
naturally  delicate,  and  her  nervous  system  very  impressible  ; 
during  sleep  she  spoke  rapidly,  and  recited  long  poems.  This 
lady  had  many  other  hallucinations,  which  the  English  author  has 
detailed  ;  but,  from  their  commencement,  she  perfectly  under- 
stood their  nature,  and,  together  with  her  husband,  studied  them, 
in  connection  with  the  circumstances  that  accompanied  them,  and 
her  particular  state  of  health. 

Case  IX.  "  When  I  was  at  school,"  says  Mr.  H.,  "  I  formed  a 
close  intimacy  with  a  youth,  whom  I  shall  call  D.  The  miscon- 
duct of  his  father  brought  the  family  to  ruin,  and  they  fell  into 
the  depths  of  misery.  For  many  years  I  lost  sight  of  the  poor 
fellow,  who  had  been  sent  abroad  in  order  to  be  more  easily  got 
rid  of.  At  length  I  heard  that  he  had  returned  in  a  deep  decline, 
of  which,  in  three  months  after,  he  died.  I  was  called  in  to 
examine  the  body,  and  it  may  be  easily  imagined  how  many  sad 
reflections  such  a  sight  awakened.    This  event  had  the  following 

*  Brewster,  op.  cit.,  p.  39. 


56  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

effect  on  my  mind  :  I  "was  one  night  engaged  in  reading  the  life 
of  Crichton,  by  Tittler;  my  family  had  long  retired,  I  had  closed 
my  book,  and  was  preparing  for  rest,  when  I  saw  a  note  of  invi- 
tation to  a  funeral  on  my  table.  This  mournful  letter  naturally 
gave  a  sombre  color  to  my  thoughts.  I  put  out  the  light,  and  got 
into  bed.  At  the  same  moment  I  was  conscious  that  some  one 
took  me  by  the  arm,  and  pressed  it  strongly  against  my  side.  I 
struggled,  and  cried  out:  '  Let  go  my  arm  /'  and  distinctly  heard 
these  words,  spoken  in  a  low  tone  :  '■Do  not  he  afraid.'  I  replied: 
'  Permit  me  to  light  the  candle.'  My  arm  was  released.  I  was 
alarmed,  and  thought  I  was  about  to  lose  my  senses.  I  suc- 
ceeded, however,  in  procuring  a  light,  and,  turning  towards  the 
door,  recognized  the  unfortunate  D.  His  features  were  indis- 
tinct, as  though  a  gauze  were  drawn  over  them. 

"  By  an  unaccountable  impulse,  I  approached  the  apparition. 
It  drew  back,  and  descended  the  stairs,  until  it  reached  the  door, 
when  it  stopped.  I  passed  by  to  open  the  street  door,  but  became 
so  giddy  that  I  fell  into  a  chair.  I  do  not  know  how  long  I 
remained  in  that  state.  On  recovering  my  senses,  I  felt  a  violent 
pain  over  my  brows,  and  Avith  difficulty  distinguished  objects.  I 
was  feverish  and  restless  during  the  night,  and  suffered  much  the 
next  day.  This  vision  appeared  to  present  all  the  characteristics 
of  illusions  produced  by  fever,  and  I  never  for  an  instant  looked 
on  it  as  real."* 

Case  X.  "We  can  match  this  with  a  case  given  by  Bostock. 
"  Oppressed,"  relates  this  English  physiologist,  "by  a  fever  that 
had  reduced  me,  to  a  state  of  great  weakness,  I  also  suffered  from 
a  violent  headache,  which  was  confined  to  the  right  temple.  After 
a  sleepless  night,  I  observed  before  me  figures  similar  to  those 
described  by  Nicolai.  Being  free  from  delirium,  I  made  my 
remarks  on  them  during  the  three  days  and  three  nights  that 
they  remained  almost  uninterruptedly.  Two  circumstances  ap- 
peared to  me  very  remarkable,  namely,  that  the  apparitions 
always  followed  the  movement  of  the  eyes;  and  that  the  objects 
best  formed,  and  which  remained  the  longest,  had  never  before 
appeared.  I  had  constantly  before  me,  for  twenty-four  hours, 
a  human  face,  whose  features  and  headdress  were  as  distinct  as 
those  of  a  living  person,  and  whose  whole  appearance,  after  the 

*  Paterson,  ap.  cit. 


HALLUCINATIONS  CONSISTENT  WITH  REASON.  57 

interval  of  many  years,  is  as  vividly  before  me  as  it  then  was. 
I  never  knew  any  one  having  the  slightest  resemblance  to  this 
fantastic  personage. 

"After  the  disappearance  of  this  phantom,  and  during  the 
progress  of  my  sickness,  I  had  a  particular  and  very  amusing 
hallucination.  I  perceived  a  crowd  of  little  human  figures,  which 
disappeared  by  degrees  like  a  troop  of  puppets  ;  they  were  all 
of  the  same  height,  and  apparently  at  the  same  distance.  When 
one  of  these  figures  had  remained  visible  for  a  few  minutes,  it 
melted  away,  and  was  replaced  by  another  more  distinct.  I  do 
not  recollect  that  these  apparitions  had  any  resemblance  to 
persons  or  objects  which  I  had  previously  seen,  but  they  were  so 
many  creations  or  new  combinations,  the  originals  of  which  I 
could  not  trace."* 

"If  it  be  asked,"  adds  Conolly,  "how  it  was  that  Nicolai  and 
the  English  physiologist  did  not  lose  their  reason,  the  reply  is, 
that  they  never  believed  in  the  reality  of  these  visions.  But  why 
did  they  not  believe,  since  the  deranged  have  full  faith  in  them  ? 
The  evidence  is  alike  in  both  cases,  since  it  is  closely  linked  with 
the  evidence  of  the  senses,  than  which  nothing  can  be  better. 
Did  not  Nicolai  and  Dr.  Bostock  deserve  the  name  of  madmen, 
for  not  believing  their  senses,  rather  than  they  who  did  ?  The 
explanation  should  be  thus  :  The  printer  of  Berlin  and  the 
London  physician  compared  the  objects  that  passed  before  their 
eyes,  and  concluded  that  the  room  could  not  contain  so  many 
persons.  Noticing  the  tranquillity  and  the  unembarrassed  looks 
of  those  around  them,  it  was  evident  that  these  apparitions  were 
invisible  to  them  ;  with  the  assistance  of  their  other  senses,  they 
became  convinced  that  the  appearances  were  false,  whatever 
madmen  might  make  of  them. 

"These  examples  lead  to  the  suspicion,  which  is  confirmed  by 
many  others,  that  madness  consists  in  the  loss  or  the  weakening 
of  one  or  more  of  the  mental  faculties,  which  no  longer  have  the 
power  of  comparing."f 

A  state  of  weakness,  convalescence,  syncope,  and  that  condi- 
tion which  precedes  asphyxia,  sometimes  cause  hallucinations. 

*  Bostock,  System  of  Physiology,  vol.  iii.  p.  204. 

t  Conolly,  An  Inquiry  concerning  the  Indications  of  Insanity,  p.  112, 
8vo.,  London,  1834. 


58  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

Leuret  relates  a  fact  that  occurred  to  himself: — 

Case  XI.  "I  was  attacked,"  says  this  physician,  "with  the  in- 
fluenza, and  my  brethren  having  decided  that  it  was  necessary  to 
bleed  me,  they  took  from  me  three  basins  of  blood.  A  quarter 
of  an  hour  after  the  operation,  I  fell  into  a  swoon,  without 
entirely  losing  consciousness,  which  lasted  during  eight  hours. 
Whilst  they  were  administering  restoratives,  I  distinctly  heard  a 
vial  placed  on  a  table  that  was  near  my  bed,  and  immediately 
a  crackling  similar  to  that  which  occurs  from  the  action  of  an 
acid  on  a  carbonate.  I  thought  they  had  spilled  some  acid  on 
the  marble  table,  and  reproved  those  who  v;ere  about  me  for 
their  negligence.  At  first  they  considered  that  I  was  dreaming  ; 
then  that  I  was  delirious  ;  and  they  attempted  to  undeceive  me 
by  the  assurance  that  there  was  no  vial  on  the  table,  and  that 
no  acid  had  been  spilled.  I  then  understood  that  I  had  a 
hallucination,  and  I  gave  credit  to  what  I  was  told,  rather  than 
to  what  I  had  heard.  But  the  noise  was  so  distinct  that,  had  I 
not  had  experience  in  hallucinations,  I  should  have  been,  like 
others,  deceived  by  this  unusual  phenomenon."* 

M.  Andral  was  himself  the  puppet  of  a  similar  illusion  ;  for 
several  instants  he  thought  that  a  corpse  lay  extended  before 
him  in  the  room  where  he  slept,  after  an  indisposition.  This 
vision  might  be  traced  to  the  painful  recollections  which  the 
sight  of  a  dead  body  had  occasioned  the  first  time  he  entered  a 
dissecting-room. 

It  frequently  happens  that,  on  raising  the  head  after  it  has 
been  for  some  time  held  down,  vertigo  is  experienced,  and  daz- 
zling and  sparkling  lights  are  seen  ;  the  ears  also  are  annoyed 
with  a  fatiguing,  buzzing  sound.  With  some  persons  this  appears 
to  have  caused  hallucinations. 

Case  XII.  A  servant-girl  was  cleaning  a  staircase  ;  raising  her 
head,  she  perceived  feet,  and  then  limbs,  of  so  large  a  size  that, 
seized  with  dread,  she  fled  without  waiting  the  development  of 
the  apparition.  The  ignorance  of  this  girl  would  not  allow  of 
her  assuring  herself  of  the  falsity  of  the  vision,  which  an  enlight- 
ened pei-son  would  have  done.f 

A  man  of  superior  intelligence  was  constantly  haunted  by  a 

*  Leuret,  Fragments  Psychologiques  sur  la  Folie,  p.  135,  Paris,  1834. 
f  Ferriar,  op.  cit. 


HALLUCINATIONS  CONSISTENT  WITH  REASON.  59 

spectre,  that  always  appeared  to  him  on  lying  down.  When  he 
sat  up  in  bed,  it  vanished,  but  reappeared  as  soon  as  he  assumed 
a  horizontal  position.     (Dendy,  op.  cit.,  p.  280.) 

A  great  struggle  of  mind,  great  preoccupation,  an  association 
of  ideas  which  cannot  always  be  detected,  may  reproduce  a  fact 
already  forgotten,  and  give  it  all  the  freshness  of  a  living  picture. 

Case  XIII.  A  middle-aged,  well-dressed  man,  a  stranger  in 
Edinburgh,  died  suddenly  in  an  omnibus.  The  corpse  was  ex- 
posed in  the  police-oflBce  until  it  was  claimed  by  his  friends.  On 
the  following  day,  a  medical  man  was  called  in  to  report  on  the 
cause  of  his  death. 

On  entering  the  room  where  the  body  lay,  the  reporter  was 
struck  with  the  open,  intelligent,  and  agreeable  expression  on  the 
face  of  the  dead.  He  had  completely  forgotten  the  matter,  how- 
ever, when  it  was  recalled  in  the  following  manner  :  After  seve- 
ral days'  close  study  of  a  medical' subject,  he  perceived,  on  raising 
his  eyes,  the  form  of  the  stranger  opposite  to  him,  as  distinctly 
as  he  had  seen  him  the  first  time  on  the  table  in  the  police-office  ; 
with  this  diiference  only,  that  he  had  on  his  hat.  For  a  while,  he 
looked  steadfastly  on  the  surgeon,  with  the  same  amiable  expres- 
sion the  latter  had  before  remarked,  and  in  a  few  minutes  dis- 
appeared. 

Mental  exertion,  in  over-exciting  the  brain,  often  causes  hallu- 
cinations. We  have  known  several  persons,  amongst  them  a 
medical  man,  who  distinctly  heard  voices  calling  them  at  night  ; 
several  of  these  individuals  turned  to  reply,  and  went  to  the  door 
under  the  impression  that  the  bell  rang.  This  state  appears  to  be 
common  among  those  who  soliloquize,  talk  aloud,  and  hold  con- 
versations as  though  another  were  present. 

Case  XIV.  Ben  Jonson,  who  had  a  tenacious  memory,  and 
a  brilliant  imagination,  experienced  occasionally  these  false  im- 
pressions. He  told  Drummond  that  he  had  passed  a  whole  night 
in  watching  his  great  arm-chair,  around  which  he  saw  Tartars, 
Turks,  and  Roman  Catholics,  rise  up  and  fight  ;  but  he  added 
that  he  knew  these  images  to  be  the  result  of  a  heated  imagina- 
tion.  The  vision  he  had  in  the  house  of  Sir  Robert  Cotton,  in 
which  he  appeared  to  see  his  son  die  of  the  plague  in  London, 
had  probably  the  same  origin.* 

The  nature   of  hallucinations  not  being  always   recognized, 

*  Paterson,  op.  cit. 


60  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

it  is  sometimes  necessary  to  examine,  and  to  compare,  in  order 
not  to  fall  into  error. 

Case  XV.  We  read,  in  Abercrombie's  work,  of  the  case  of  a 
man  who  has  been  all  his  life  beset  with  hallucinations.  His 
tendency  is  such  that,  when  he  meets  a  friend  in  the  street,  he 
is  uncertain  whether  he  is  a  real  person  or  a  phantom.  With 
close  observation  he  can  perceive  a  difference  between  them.  The 
features  of  the  real  person  are  more  decided,  more  complete  than 
those  of  the  phantom,  but  he  usually  corrects  his  visual  impres- 
sions by  touch,  or  by  hearing  their  footsteps.  He  has  the  faculty 
of  recalling  his  visions  at  will,  by  powerfully  fixing  his  attention 
on  the  conceptions  of  his  mind.  This  hallucination  may  comprise 
a  figure,  a  scene,  or  an  imaginary  creation;  but,  although  he  has 
the  power  to  produce  the  hallucination,  he  cannot  dispel  it  ;  nor, 
having  produced  it,  can  he  tell  how  long  it  will  last.  This  man 
is  in  the  prime  of  life,  of  clear  intellect,  good  health,  and  occupied 
in  business.  Another  person  of  his  family  has  the  same  power, 
but  in  a  less  degree.* 

Subsection  II. — Hallucinations  consistent  with  reason,  not 
corrected  hy  the  understanding. 

Some  years  since,  in  a  note  addressed  to  an  honorable  member, 
M.  Bernard  d'Apt,  who  requested  my  opinion  on  supernatural- 
ism,  I  openly  avowed  my  sympathy  in  that  grand  creed.  A 
journalist,  for  whom  it  was  intended,  hid  it  in  his  portfolio,  out 
of  friendship  to  me.  This  question  has  been  renewed  by  M. 
Guizot,  with  his  accustomed  noble-mindedness.f  We  think,  with 
him,  that  the  existence  of  society  is  bound  up  in  it.  It  is  in  vain 
that  modern  reason,  which,  notwithstanding  its  positivism,  can- 
not explain  the  intimate  cause  of  any  phenomenon,  rejects  the 
supernatural  ;  it  is  universal,  and  at  the  root  of  all  hearts.  The 
most  elevated  minds  are  frequently  its  most  ardent  disciples. 

Dr.  Sigmond  goes  still  further  ;  he  says,  in  his  remarks  on 
hallucinations,  that  it  would  be  difficult  to  find  a  celebrated  man 
who  has  not,  in  his  autobiography  or  his  confessions,  made  allu- 
sion to  some  supernatural  event  of  his  life  ;  he  adds  that  the 

*  Abercrombie,  Inquiries  concerning  the  Intellectual  Powers,  8vo.  p. 
380,  eleventh  edition,  London,  1841. 
f  See  the  Preface. 


HALLUCINATIONS  CONSISTENT  WITH  REASON.  61 

most  sceptical  have  had,  at  one  time  or  another,  some  extraordi- 
nary impression,  presentiment,  or  vision. 

Thus  it  is  that  hallucinations  are  frequently  accepted  as  reali- 
ties, howsoever  strange  they  may  appear  to  those  who  experience 
them  ;  but  the  judgment  is  not  influenced.  Men  have  witnessed 
some  singular  fact  of  which  they  give  a  more  or  less  plausible 
explanation,  but  which,  in  secret,  by  a  certain  action  of  the  mind, 
and  a  particular  tendency  to  superstition,  or  rather  to  the  super- 
natural, they  are  induced  to  regard  as  the  presage  of  some 
weighty  event,  some  exalted  destiny,  an  inspiration  from  heaven, 
a  warning  of  Providence.  Many  great  men  have  believed  in  the 
existence  of  a  star,  a  protecting  genius;  thus,  marvellous  appa- 
ritions have  not  always  found  them  incredulous.  The  distinctive 
character  of  this  kind  of  hallucination  is,  that,  despite  of  it,  the 
general  character  receives  no  stain,  and  a  high  reputation  for 
wisdom,  and  virtue,  and  ability  may  be  attained.  We  believe  it 
not  unfrequently  happens  that  it  is  a  lively  stimulant  to  the  exe- 
cution of  conceived  projects. 

Instances  of  this  kind  may  be  cited,  for  the  genuineness  of 
which  the  station  of  the  individual,  and  the  veracity  of  the 
witnesses,  offer  a  sufficient  guarantee. 

Case  XVI.  In  1806,  General  Rapp,  on  his  return  from  the 
siege  of  Dantzic,  desiring  to  speak  with  the  Emperor,  entered 
the  cabinet  unannounced.  He  found  him  in  so  deep  a  reverie 
that  his  entrance  was  unperceived.  The  general,  finding  him 
remain  immovable,  intentionally  made  a  noise.  Napoleon  then 
recovered,  and,  seizing  Rapp  by  the  arm,  said  to  him,  pointing  to 
the  ceiling,  "Look  up  there!"  The  general  made  no  reply; 
but  the  question  being  repeated,  he  answered  that  he  saw  nothing. 
"  What,"  said  the  Emperor,  "  you  do  not  see  it  ?  It  is  my  star  ; 
it  is  before  you,  beaming;"  and  growing  more  animated,  he  con- 
tinued, "  it  has  never  deserted  me  ;  I  see  it  on  every  great  occur- 
rence; it  urges  me  onward,  and  is  an  unfailing  omen  of  success." 
M.  Passy,  who  had  this  anecdote  from  Rapp  himself,  related  it 
to  M.  Amédée  Thierry,  at  the  same  time  that  he  delivered  his 
interesting  communication  relative  to  his  investigation  of  the 
vision  of  Constantino  [Académie  des  Sciences  Morales  et  Poli- 
tique, Saturday,  April  4,  1846).     I  also  heard  it  from  him. 

Case   XVII.  About  forty  years  ago,  the  following   circum 


62  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

stance  happened  to  the  Marquis  of  Londonderry,  afterwards  Lord 
Castlereagh.  He  went  to  visit  a  friend  in  one  of  those  old  castles, 
in  the  north  of  Ireland,  that  novelists  choose  for  the  theatre  of 
apparitions.  The  room  to  which  the  marquis  was  shown  corre- 
sponded with  the  general  character  of  the  building.  In  fact, 
the  rich  sculptured  wainscots  blackened  by  time,  the  immense 
arch  of  the  chimney  looking  like  the  entrance  to  a  sepulchre, 
the  long  range  of  ancestral  portraits  with  their  proud  and  dis- 
dainful looks,  the  ample  draperies,  dusty  and  heavy,  which  hung 
before  the  windows  and  surrounded  the  bed,  were  all  well  calcu- 
lated to  give  a  melancholy  turn  to  his  thoughts. 

Lord  Londonderry  examined  his  room,  and  made  acquaintance 
with  the  old  lords  of  the  castle,  who,  upright  in  their  ivory 
frames,  appeared  to  await  his  salute.  Having  dismissed  his 
valet,  he  went  to  bed.  He  had  scarcely  put  out  his  lamp,  when 
he  became  aware  of  a  ray  of  light  at  the  head  of  his  bed.  Con- 
vinced that  there  was  no  fire  in  the  grate,  that  the  curtains  were 
closed,  and  that  a  few  minutes  previously  the  room  was  in  total 
darkness,  he  supposed  that  some  person  had  entered.  Quickly 
turning  towards  the  point  whence  the  light  proceeded,  he  saw,  to 
his  great  astonishment,  the  figure  of  a  beautiful  child  surrounded 
with  a  halo,  which  stood  at  some  distance  from  his  bed. 

Convinced  that  he  was  perfectly  in  his  senses,  but  suspecting 
a  trick  on  the  part  of  some  of  the  numerous  hosts  of  the  castle, 
Lord  Londonderry  approached  the  apparition,  which  retired  as  he 
advanced,  until,  reaching  the  immense  arch  of  the  chimney,  it 
vanished  into  the  earth.  His  lordship  returned  to  his  bed  ;  but 
slept  not  that  night,  so  disturbed  was  he  by  the  extraordinary 
occurrence.  Was  it  real,  or  must  he  look  on  it  as  the  result  of 
an  excited  imagination?     The  mystery  was  not  easy  to  solve. 

He  resolved  to  make  no  allusion  to  the  afi"air  until  he  had  care- 
fully watched  the  countenances  of  all  the  inmates  of  the  house, 
in  order  to  discover  if  he  had  been  made  the  victim  of  a  trick. 
During  breakfast,  the  marquis  vainly  endeavored  to  detect  some 
of  those  covert  smiles,  looks  of  connivance,  or  sly  winks,  that 
generally  betray  the  authors  of  a  domestic  conspiracy.  The  con- 
versation flowed  as  usual;  it  was  lively;  nothing  bore  the  stamp 
of  mystery  ;  all  passed  on  as  usual.  At  length,  the  hero  of  this 
adventure  could  no  longer  resist  the  desire  he  felt  to  relate  what 
he  had  seen  ;  he  entered  into  all  the  particulars  of  the  appari- 


HALLUCINATIONS  CONSISTENT  WITH  REASON.  63 

tion.  The  recital  aroused  great  interest  among  the  auditors,  and 
gave  rise  to  a  variety  of  explanations.  The  master  of  the  house 
interrupted  the  divers  comments,  by  observing  that  doubtless  his 
lordship's  relation  had  appeared  very  extraordinary  to  those  "who 
had  only  recently  inhabited  the  castle,  and  were  unacquainted 
with  the  family  legends.  Then  turning  towards  Lord  London- 
derry :  "  You  have  seen  the  radiant  child,"  said  he  ;  "be  satis- 
fied ;  it  is  the  presage  of  high  honors  ;  but  I  would  rather  that 
nothing  had  been  said  of  the  apparition." 

On  another  occasion.  Lord  Castlereagh  saw  the  radiant  child 
in  the  House  of  Commons.  It  is  very  probable  that  on  the  day 
of  his  suicide  he  had  a  similar  apparition.*  It  is  known  that 
this  lord,  one  of  the  chief  members  of  the  Harrowby  Ministry, 
and  the  most  inveterate  persecutor  of  Napoleon  in  his  misfor- 
tunes, severed  his  carotid  artery  on  the  22d  of  August,  1823, 
and  died  instantly. 

Case  XVIII.  The  following  curious  details  may  be  found  in 
the  Biography  of  Charles  John  Bernadotte,  published  in  a  Pau 
journal,  the  town  where  the  late  King  of  Sweden  was  born. 

"...  There  exist  singular  mysteries  in  certain  destinies.  The 
surprising  fortune  of  Bernadotte  had,  it  is  said,  been  predicted 
by  a  famous  sorceress,  who  had  also  foretold  that  of  Bonaparte, 
and  who  so  entirely  possessed  the  superstitious  confidence  of  the 
Empress  Josephine.  Destiny  seemed  never  to  tire  in  protecting 
Bernadotte;  he  continued  to  rise  without  ever  experiencing  the 
almost  inevitable  reverses  that  attend  those  ambitious  spirits  who 
overleap  the  abyss  that  divides  modest  obscurity  from  the  most 
brilliant  greatness. 

"Like  all  men,  who  feel  a  power  in  themselves  that  impels 
them  on  to  fortune,  or  enables  them  to  seize  favorable  circum- 
stances, Bernadotte  believed  in  a  special  destiny,  in  a  sort  of 
tutelar  divinity,  who  selected  from  the  crowd  certain  individuals 
and  became  their  protector.  Probably,  the  marvellous  old  tra- 
ditions, that  surrounded  his  cradle,  were  the  groundwork  of  the 
semi-pagan  superstition  that  he  never  mistrusted.  In  an  ancient 
family  chronicle,  it  was  related  that  a  fairy,  who  was  the  wife  of 
one  of  his  ancestors,  had  predicted  that  a  king  should  make  her 
posterity  illustrious.      Formerly,  in  our  country-places,   every 

*  Forbes  Winslow,  Anatomy  of  Suicide,  1  vol.  8vo.  p.  242,  London,  1840. 


64  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

family  had  its  good  genius,  by  which  it  was  guarded.  Bernadette 
never  forgot  the  legend  that  had  cradled  his  early  years,  and  it 
was  probably  not  without  its  influence  on  the  glorious  destiny  of 
this  great  man. 

"We  will  relate  a  fact  that  proves  what  an  ascendency  the 
marvellous  had  on  the  mind  of  the  King  of  Sweden.  He  was 
desirous  to  settle,  by  the  sword,  the  difficulties  that  Norway  op- 
posed to  him,  and  to  send  his  son  Oscar  at  the  head  of  an  army 
to  reduce  the  rebels,  and  bring  them  under  his  sway  ;  but  he 
was  violently  opposed  by  the  Council  of  State.  One  day,  after 
a  violent  discussion  on  the  subject,  he  mounted  his  horse  and 
galloped  away  from  the  capital.  After  a  long  ride,  he  reached 
the  borders  of  a  deep  forest.  Suddenly  an  old  woman,  strangely 
dressed,  and  with  disordered  hair,  stood  before  him.  'What  do 
you  want?'  roughly  asked  the  king.  The  apparent  sorceress 
replied,  without  being  disconcerted:  'If  Oscar  fights  in  the  war 
you  meditate,  he  will  not  give  the  first  blows,  but  will  receive 
them.'  Bernadotte,  struck  with  this  apparition  and  these  words, 
returned  to  his  palace.  On  the  following  day,  he  entered  the 
council,  bearing  on  his  countenance  the  traces  of  a  long  and 
agitating  vigil.  'I  have  changed  my  mind,'  said  he;  'we  will 
negotiate  peace,  but  it  must  be  on  honorable  terms.'  Did  those 
who  knew  the  weak  point  in  the  mind  of  this  great  man  work 
upon  it  to  serve  the  cause  of  justice,  reason,  and  humanity? 
or,  rather,  is  it  not  probable  that  the  thoughts  which  preoccupied 
him,  and  lighted  up  the  brain  (as  constantly  happens  in  dreams, 
and  even  in  waking  hours),  appeared  objectively  before  him,  and 
that  the  mental  operation  was  accepted  as  a  real  occurrence? 
This  explanation  appears  to  us  more  admissible  than  that  an  old 
cheat  should  be  found  exactly  on  the  spot  where  the  caprice  of 
the  king  conducted  him."* 

Case  XIX.  M.  de  Chateaubriand  relates,  in  his  Life  of  M.  de 
Mancê,  that,  as  that  celebrated  man  was  walking  down  the  ave- 
nue of  his  chateau  of  Veretz,  he  thought  he  saw  the  buildings,  in 
the  lower  court,  on  fire.  Hastening  towards  them,  the  fire  dimin- 
ished at  his  approach.  At  some  distance,  the  flames  disappeared 
and  changed  into  a  lake  of  fire,  in  the  midst  of  which  arose  the 
body  of  a  woman,  partly  consumed.     Seized  with  fear,  he  ran, 

*  Presse,  May  14,  1844. 


HALLUCINATIONS  CONSISTENT  WITH  REASON.  65 

and  reached  the  house,  where,  in  a  fainting  state,  he  sank  on  a 
bed.  He  was  so  bewildered  that  he  was  unable  to  utter  a 
word.* 

To  the  foregoing  anecdote  we  will  add  the  following,  on  ac- 
count of  the  resemblance  of  ideas  in  the  two  persons. 

Case  XX.  The  Baron  de  Géramb,  returning  from  the  Port  to 
Cadiz,  in  company  with  some  Spanish  ladies,  heard  a  voice  call 
to  him,  in  French,  ^^ Save  me!  Icelp,  help!''  He  paid  but  little 
attention  to  it  at  the  time.  On  the  following  day,  he  saw  on  the 
shore  a  dead  body,  laid  on  a  black  plank,  lighted  by  torches 
placed  at  each  side,  which  he  gave  orders  to  have  covered.  A 
tempest  having  arisen  during  the  evening,  a  secret  impulse  at- 
tracted him  towards  the  shore.  Greatly  to  his  surprise,  he  saw 
arise  from  the  spot  where  the  corpse  lay,  a  shapeless  phantom, 
shrouded  in  the  large  black  garment  that  he  had  sent.  The 
spectre  began  to  take  prodigious  strides,  taking  a  globular  form, 
and  describing  circles  ;  it  bounded  off,  and  appeared  at  a  distance 
in  gigantic  proportions. 

The  baron  followed  it  across  the  streets  of  Cadiz.  The 
noise  it  made  in  its  course  resembled  the  shivering  of  autumn 
leaves.  A  door  was  violently  opened  ;  the  phantom  dashed  like 
lightning  into  the  house,  and  sank  to  the  cellar.  Heavy  wailings 
were  heard.  The  baron  descended,  and  found  the  corpse  naked 
and  livid,  over  which  hung  an  aged  man,  heaving  sighs  of  misery 
and  despair.  In  an  obscure  corner  of  this  cellar  was  the 
phantom,  whirling  as  in  its  course  thither  :  it  was  presently 
changed  into  a  bright  cloud.  This  was  again  metamorphosed 
into  the  pallid  form  of  a  young  man,  imitating  the  undulating 
movement  of  a  wave.  The  Baron  de  Géramb  afterwards  heard 
anthems  chanted  and  prayers  oflered  up  for  the  dead;  and  a 
bright  young  girl,  dressed  in  white,  entered  and  knelt  by  the 
side  of  the  dead.f 

Antiquity  has  bequeathed  us  many  of  these  hallucinations, 
which,  owing  to  the  current  belief,  excited  no  surprise  either  on 
the  part  of  the  witnesses,  of  the  magistrates,  or  of  the  people. 
"We  will  translate  simply  the  following  case  :— 

*  Life  of  Ranee,  by  Chateaubriand,  Paris,  1844. 

t  Walter  Cooper  Dendy,  The  Philosophy  of  Mystery,  p.  11,  London, 
1841. 

5 


66  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

Case  XXI.  We  read  in  a  letter  from  Pliny,  Consul  of  Sara, 
that  there  was  a  house  in  Athens  haunted  by  a  spirit,  which 
dragged  chains  after  it.  Athenodorus,  the  philosopher,  hired 
the  house,  determined  to  lay  the  spirit.  At  the  approach  of 
night,  he  ordered  a  bed  to  be  prepared,  and,  having  received  a 
lamp,  his  pencil,  and  tablets,  he  sent  away  his  slaves.  The 
early  part  of  the  night  passed  in  the  most  perfect  quiet,  but  at 
length  the  sound  of  chains  was  heard.  Instead  of  raising  his 
eyes  and  dropping  his  pencil,  he  continued  his  studies  more  in- 
tensely. The  noise  increased,  until  at  length  it  sounded  at  his 
very  door. 

Athenodorus  looked  up  and  beheld  the  spectre,  such  as  it  had 
been  represented;  it  stood  opposite  to  him,  making  signs  with 
its  finger.     He  begged  it  to  wait  awhile,  and  turned  again  to  his 
papers  ;  but  the  phantom,  again  clanking  its  chains,  renewed  its 
signals.     Athenodorus  arose,  and  taking  the  light  followed  it. 
The  spectre  advanced  slowly,  as  if  encumbered  by  its  chains, 
and  arrived  in  the  court-yard  of  the  house,  where  it  suddenly 
disappeared.     The  philosopher  marked  the  spot  with  grass  and 
leaves.     On  the  following  day  he  informed  the  magistrates  of  the 
event,  and  desired  that  the  place  should  be  searched.     His  advice 
was  followed,  and  the  skeleton  of  a  man  in  chains  was  discovered. 
The  bones  were  collected  and  publicly  burned,  and  the  spirit 
from  that  time  no  longer  haunted  the  house.* 
c       Many  examples  might  be  cited  in  which  illustrious  men  have 
had  hallucinations  of  this  nature,  without  their  conduct  being  at 
all  influenced  by  the  circumstance. 
L     Thus  Malebranche  declared  that  he  distinctly  heard  the  voice 
of  God  within  him.     Descartes,  after  a  long  seclusion,  was  fol- 
lowed by  an  invisible  person,  who  urged  him  to  pui-sue  his  re- 
searches after  truth,  f 
i/         Byron  imagined  himself  to  be  sometimes  visited  by  a  spectre  ; 
but   he  said  that  it  was  owing  to  the  over-excitability  of  his 
brain.| 

The   celebrated  Dr.  Johnson  clearly  heard  his   mother  call 
Samuel.     She  was  then  living  in  a  town  at  a  great  distance. 

*  Dendy,  op.  cit.,  p.  15. 

t  Forbes  Winslow,  op.  cit.,  p.  123. 

t  Ibid.,  p.  126. 


HALLUCINATIONS  CONSISTENT  WITH  REASON.  67 

Pope,  who  suffered  much  in  his  intestines,  one  day  inquired  of 
his  physician  what  arm  that  was  that  appeared  to  come  out  from 
the  walh 

Goethe  asserts  that  he  one  day  saw  the  counterpart  of  himself 
coming  towards  him.  {Complete  Works,  t.  xxii.  p.  83.)  The 
German  psychologists  give  the  name  of  Deutereseopie  to  this 
kind  of  illusion. 

Case  XXII.  Oliver  Cromwell  was  stretched  fatigued  and  sleep- 
less on  his  bed.  Su'ddenly  the  curtains  opened,  and  a  :stoiiiâiLi2f 
gigantic  size  appeared,  and  told  him  that  he  would  be  the  greatest 
man  in  EnglancH'  The  Puritan  faith,  and  the  ambition  of  Crom- 
well, might  have  suggested,  during  those  troublous  times  of  the 
kingdom,  some  still  stronger  idea;  and  who  can  say  whether,  had 
the  phantom  murmured  these  words  in  his  ear,  "  Thou  wilt  one 
day  be  king!"  the  protector  would  have  refused  the  crown,  as 
did  Caesar  at  the  Lupercalian  feasts  ?* 

The  silence  and  horror  of  a  dungeon  may  explain  certain  hal- 
lucinations that  have  occurred  to  persons  remarkable  for  their 
mind  and  talents.  As  in  the  preceding  cases,  false  impressions 
have  been  taken  for  realities,  without  the  reason  being  affected — 
a  result  which  appears  to  belong  to  the  ideas  of  the  time,  and 
to  religious  belief,  inasmuch  as  those  illusions  in  no  wise  interfered 
with  the  habits  and  sentiments  of  those  who  experienced  them. 

Case  XXIII.  Eenvenuto  Cellini,  imprisim£diB-JR,ome%y-order 
of  the  Pope,  was  so  overcome  with  ennui  and  suffering  that  he 
resolved  on  suicide.  "  One  day,"  says  he,  "  determined  to  put 
an  end  to  myself,  I  suspended,  with  great  effort,  an  enormous 
beam  over  my  head  ;  but  I  was  arrested,  and  flung  some  paces 
from  it  in  an  invisible  manner.  I  reflected  on  the  cause  that  had 
prevented  my  destroying  myself,  and  concluded  that  it  was  a 
divine  interference.  During  the  night,  a  yonrig  Tnan  nf  won- 
derful  beauty  appeared  to  me  in  a  dream,  and  said,  with  a 
reproachful  air:  'Thou  knowest  who  gave  thee  life,  and  thou 
wouldst  quit  it  before  thy  time.'  I  answered,  it  appears  to  me, 
that  'I  acknowledged  all  the  gifts  of  God.'  '  Why,  then,'  replied 
he,  '  wouldst  thou  cancel  them  ?  Be  resigned,  and  lose  not  thy 
hope  in  His  divine  goodness.' 

"  The  governor  was  cruel.     The  invisible  youth  that  had  pre- 

*  Dendy,  oj>.  cit.,  p.  41. 


68  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

vented  my  committing  suicide  came  to  me,  and,  in  a  clear  voice, 
said:  'My  dear  Benvenuto,  come,  come,  pray  earnestly  to  God!' 
Terrified,  I  threw  myself  on  my  knees,  and  recited  my  usual  ori- 
sons.   The  same  voice  said  to  me:  '  Go  to  rest  no"W,  and  fear  not.' 

"I  frequently  asked  the  invisible  spirit  who  gave  me  such  good 
advice  to  let  me  see  the  sun,  the  object  of  all  my  dreams.  On 
the  2d  of  October,  1539,  I  was  still  more  earnest  in  my  prayer. 
On  the  next  morning,  awaking  an  hour  before  daylight,  and 
having  dressed  myself  in  an  old  coat  that  I  had,  for  the  weather 
was  becoming  cold,  I  began  my  orisons,  and  supplicated  Jesus 
Christ  to  let  me  know,  by  inspiration,  if  I  was  considered  un- 
worthy to  see  the  sun — for  what  fault  I  was  subjected  to  so  heavy 
a  penance.  I  had  scarcely  finished,  when  I  was  carried,  as  if  by 
a  whirlwind,  by  my  invisible  spirit,  into  a  room  where  he  appeared 
to  me  under  the  semblance  of  a  handsome  young  man,  but  whose 
whole  appearance  was  austere.  '  There,'  said  he,  showing  me  a 
multitude  of  people,  '  are  all  the  men  who  have  lived  and  died 
until  now'  (it  will  be  remembered  that  Benvenuto  was  well  versed 
in  Dante).  I  prayed  him  to  explain  his  motive  for  thus  acting. 
'  Come  with  me,'  said  he,  '  and  thou  shalt  see.' 

"I  had  a  short  poniard  in  my  hand,  and  wore  my  coat  of 
mail.  As  I  walked  on,  I  saw,  in  an  immense  hall,  men  moving 
in  crowds  in  every  direction.  Then  the  spirit  having  conducted 
me  through  a  narrow  gallery,  I  was  suddenly  disarmed.  Bare- 
headed, and  dressed  in  a  white  robe,  I  walked  on  his  right.  I 
was  in  a  state  of  admiration,  mingled  with  surprise,  for  every 
place  that  I  entered  was  new  to  me.  I  raised  my  eyes,  and  saw 
a  wall  on  which  the  sun  shone;  but  I  saw  not  the  sun  himself. 
'  My  friend,'  said  I  to  my  guide,  '  how  can  I  be  sufliciently  raised 
to  see  the  face  of  that  planet  ?'  He  showed  me  a  small  ladder. 
'  Go  up  there,'  said  he.  I  went  backwards  up  the  ladder.  By 
degrees  I  began  to  see  the  sun,  and,  rising  still  higher,  saw  his 
entire  globe.  The  strength  of  his  rays  caused  me  to  lower  my 
eyes  ;  but  I  took  courage,  and,  looking  fixedly  at  it,  exclaimed  : 
'  Oh,  sun  !  whom  I  have  so  longed  to  see,  I  will  contemplate  but 
thee,  even  if  thy  fires  blind  me.' 

"  I  stood,  therefore,  with  a  firm  countenance  ;  his  rays  soon 
spread  to  the  right,  and  presently  covered  the  whole  globe,  which 
caused  me  inexpressible  admiration. 

"  'What  favor  has  God  shown  to  me  !'  said  I;  'what  power  exists 


HALLUCINATIONS  CONSISTENT  WITH  KEASON.  69 

in  his  virtue!'  The  sun  appeared  a  circle  of  the  purest  gold; 
suddenly  I  saw  it  increase,  and  from  it  came  a  Christ  on  a  cross 
of  the  same  material  ;  he  had  an  expression  of  goodness  and 
grace  that  no  pencil  can  paint.  Whilst  I  cried  out,  '  Oh  miracle  ! 
oh  miracle!  with  what  happiness  am  I  this  morning  filled!' 
Christ  moved  towards  the  side  whence  the  rays  had  emerged, 
which  parted  as  at  first,  and  there  issued  a  beautiful  virgin,  hold- 
ing her  son  in  her  arms,  and  bestowing  upon  me  the  sweetest 
smile.  Two  angels  were  by  her  side,  and  a  pontiff  knelt  before 
her.  All  these  wonderful  objects  were  clearly  and  vividly  dis- 
played, and  I  loudly  and  unceasingly  praised  God.  When  I  had 
enjoyed  this  marvellous  sight  during  half  a  quarter  of  an  hour, 
I  was  suddenly  retransported  to  my  prison,"  where  I  continued 
giving  thanlvs  to  the  Most  High,  saying,  '  God  has  at  length  made 
me  worthy  to  see  what  no  mortal  ever  saw  before.'  "* 

With  this  we  may  compare  the  case  of  Sylvio  Pellico,  of  which 
we  shall  speak  hereafter  ;  but  in  the  latter,  the  cause  of  the 
vision  was  fully  appreciated. 

The  following  instance  we  must  trace  to  the  influence  of  dark- 
ness and  fear,  strengthened  by  the  belief  of  the  age. 

Ferriar  thinks  that  the  first  visions  took  place  during  sleep, 
and  that  the  noises  of  the  second  night  were  but  reminiscences. 

Case  XXIV.  "  In  1647,"  writes  Bovet,  "  I  was,  together  with 
several  estimable  persons,  in  the  house  of  a  gentleman  in  the 
west,  which  had  formerly  been  a  convent  for  females.  The  serv- 
ants, and  some  of  those  who  had  visited  it,  spoke  much  of  noises 
and  apparitions  that  disturbed  the  peace  of  the  house  ;  but 
just  now,  in  consequence  of  the  great  influx  of  company,  fear 
had  greatly  ceased.     At  the  hour  of  rest,  the  steward  of  the 

host,  who  was  named  C ,  accompanied  me  into  a  handsome 

room,  called  the  ladies  room  ;  having  passed  some  time  in  read- 
ing, we  retired  to  bed,  after  putting  out  the  light.  The  moon 
shone  so  brightly  that  the  steward  could  see  to  read  manuscript. 
We  had  just  been  noticing  the  circumstance  when  (my  face  being 
turned  towards  the  door)  I  saw  five  very  pretty  women  enter  ; 
their  elegant  forms  were  richly  clothed,  but  entirely  covered  with 
light  veils  that  reached  down  to  their  feet.     They  made  the  tour 

*  Memoirs  of  Benvenuto  Cellini,  written  by  Himself,  translated  from 
the  Italian  by  M.  de  St.  Marcel,  Paris,  1822,  pp.  285,  290,  et  seq. 


70  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

of  the  room  in  file,  when  the  first  came  to  my  bedside,  and  gave 
me  a  slight  blow  with  her  hand  ;  I  do  not  recollect  if  it  was 
warm  or  cold. 

"  I  asked,  in  the  name  of  the  Holy  Trinity,  what  they  wanted; 
but  they  made  no  reply.  I  then  addressed  Mr.  C:  'Do  you  see 
the  beautiful  ladies,'  said  I,  'who  have  come  to  visit  you?' 

"  Instantly  they  disappeared. 

"  Mr.  C.  was  in  an  agony  of  terror;  I  was  obliged  to  press  his 
breast  strongly  to  make  him  speak  ;  he  said  that  he  saw  them, 
and  heard  me  address  them,  but  that  he  found  it  impossible  to 
speak  sooner,  he  had  been  so  alarmed  at  the  sight  of  a  horrible 
monster,  half  lion,  half  bear,  who  was  attempting  to  get  up  on 
the  foot  of  the  bed.  He  owned  that,  although  for  several  years 
he  had  often  heard  noises  in  his  room,  and  others  had  complained 
of  it,  he  had  never  been  so  alarmed.  The  next  day,  at  dinner, 
he  showed  me  the  mark  I  had  made  on  his  breast  to  oblige  him 
to  speak,  very  particularly  related  what  had  occurred,  and  de- 
clared he  would  not  inhabit  the  room  again.  For  my  part,  I  re- 
solved to  sleep  there  again,  in  order  to  penetrate  the  mystery. 

"  The  next  night  I  took  a  Bible  with  me,  intending  to  read 
and  meditate.  At  one  o'clock  I  lay  down  ;  I  had  scarcely  done 
so,  when  I  heard  some  one  Avalking  in  the  room  ;  the  noise  was  like 
the  rustling  of  a  silk  dress  on  the  floor,  and  it  was  distinct,  but 
I  saw  nothing,  although  the  moon  was  as  bright  as  on  the  pre- 
ceding night.  The  apparition  passed  at  the  foot  of  the  bed, 
opened  the  curtains,  then  directed  its  steps  towards  an  inner 
room,  which  it  entered,  although  it  was  locked  ;  it  then  appeared 
to  sigh,  pushed  a  chair  with  its  foot,  sat  down,  and  turned  the 
leaves  of  a  large  folio.  This  lasted  till  daybreak.  Since  that 
time  I  have  frequently  occupied  the  room,  but  heard  no  recur- 
rence of  the  noise."* 

The  apparition  thus  seen  by  two  witnesses  is  naturally  ex- 
plained by  the  fear  which  overpowered  them,  and  the  nightmare 
under  which  one  of  them  labored. 

In  the  two  following  instances,  the  apparitions  may,  to  a  certain 
extent,  receive  their  explanation  in  the  ties  of  sympathy  that  ex- 
ist between  members  of  a  united  family.     It  is  a  psychological 

*  Ferriar,  already  quoted,  p.  89. — Richard  Bovet,  Pandœmonium,  or  the 
Devil's  Cloyster,  1684,  eighth  edition,  p.  202. — Scott's  Demonology  and 
Witchcraft,  London,  1830. 


HALLUCINATIONS  CONSISTENT  WITH  REASON.  71 

trait,  that  has  often  struck  us,  that  the  features,  especially  of 
man  and  wife,  appear  to  grow  into  harmony,  and  that  their 
thoughts  frequently  coincide  by  a  sort  of  divination,  without  any 
verbal  communication. 

Case  XXV.  One  day,  in  the  year  1652,  Philip,  second  Earl 
of  Chesterfield,  saw  something  white,  like  a  spread  sheet,  about 
a  yard  from  the  head  of  his  bed. 

He  attempted  to  seize  it,  but  it  slid  away  to  the  foot,  and 
disappeared.  His  thoughts  immediately  turned  to  his  wife, 
who  was  at  Networth  with  her  father,  the  Earl  of  Northumber- 
land. On  his  arrival  at  Networth,  a  servant  met  him  at  the  foot 
of  the  staircase,  and  gave  him  a  letter  from  his  wife,  whom  he 
found  in  company  with  Lady  Essex,  and  her  sister  Mrs.  Ramsey. 
They  questioned  him  on  the  reason  of  his  sudden  return,  which  he 
made  known,  and  on  reading  the  letter  he  found  it  was  to  hasten 
his  return,  as  his  wife  had  seen  something  white,  and  a  black  fig- 
ure, at  her  bedside.  These  apparitions  were  seen  by  the  earl 
and  countess  at  the  same  time,  although  the  two  were  forty  miles 
apart.* 

Case  XXVI.  A  young  man  of  eighteen,  quite  free  from 
enthusiastic,  romantic,  or  superstitious  tendencies,  was  at  Rams- 
gate  for  his  health.  Walking  one  day  in  a  neighboring  village, 
he  entered  a  church  about  the  close  of  day,  and  was  struck 
with  terror  to  see  a  spectre  of  his  mother,  who  had  died,  several 
months  before,  of  a  wasting  and  painful  disease  that  had  excited 
much  pity  in  her  attendants.  The  figure  remained  immovable 
for  a  considerable  time,  and  stood  between  him  and  the  wall. 
Almost  fainting,  he  reached  his  lodging  ;  the  same  apparition 
appearing  for  several  successive  nights  in  his  room,  he  felt  so  ill 
that  he  hastened  to  return  to  Paris,  where  his  father  lived.  At 
the  same  time  he  resolved  not  to  mention  the  vision  to  him, 
fearino-  to  add  to  his  distress  for  the  loss  of  an  adored  wife. 

Obliged  to  sleep  in  his  father's  room,  he  was  surprised  to  find 
a  night-lamp  burning,  which  was  contrary  to  their  custom,  and  in 
direct  opposition  to  their  tastes.  After  several  hours  of  restless- 
ness caused  by  the  light,  the  son  got  out  of  bed  to  extinguish  it. 
The  father  immediately  woke  in  great  agitation,  and  desired 
him  to  light  it  again,  which  he  did,  very  much  surprised  at  his 

*  Dendy,  op.  cit.,  p.  27. 


72  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

anger,  and  tlie  fear  betrayed  on  his  features.  His  inquiries  as  to 
the  cause  of  his  terror  were  vaguely  answered,  but  with  a  promise 
some  day  to  explain  it. 

About  a  week  from  this  time,  the  son,  being  unable  to  sleep  on 
£|,ccount  of  the  light,  ventured  a  second  time  to  extinguish  it;  but 
his  father  sprang  out  of  bed,  trembling  very  much,  reproached 
him  for  his  disobedience,  and  relighted  it  ;  when  he  owned  that, 
whenever  he  was  in  the  dark,  the  phantom  of  his  wife  appeared, 
stood  immovable,  nor  vanished  until  the  reintroduction  of  light. 
This  recital  deeply  impressed  the  young  man,  and,  fearing  to 
augment  the  grief  of  his  father  by  relating  his  Ramsgate 
adventure,  he  shortly  after  quitted  Paris  for  a  town  in  the 
interior  about  sixty  miles  off,  to  see  a  brother  who  was  there  at 
school,  and  to  whom  he  had  not  confided  what  had  happened  to 
him,  for  fear  of  ridicule. 

He  had  scarcely  exchanged  courtesies  with  the  inmates  of  the 
house,  when  the  son  of  the  schoolmaster  said  to  him  :  "Has  your 
brother  ever  shown  any  symptoms  of  insanity  ?  He  came  down 
stairs  last  night  undressed,  quite  out  of  his  mind,  declaring  that 
he  had  seen  the  ghost  of  his  mother,  and  dared  not  return  to  his 
room,  and  he  immediately  fainted  from  fear." 

Wigan  says,  if  the  apparition  had  been  seen  by  these  several 
persons  at  the  same  time,  it  would  favor  the  opinion  of  those  who 
maintain  that  the  dead  revisit  the  earth.  This  argument  does  not 
appear  to  us  so  irresistible  as  to  Wigan,  because,  in  the  case  of 
Lord  Chesterfield,  the  vision  appeared  to  the  earl  and  countess 
at  the  same  time.  As  to  the  apparition  appearing  successively 
to  three  persons,  it  can  be  explained  by  the  lively  affection  they 
all  felt  for  the  deceased,  by  the  distressing  circumstances  attend- 
ing her  last  illness,  and  by  a  tendency  to  reproduce  her  image 
on  closing  the  eyes.* 

Case  XXVII.  The  famous  Bodin,  in  his  book  Be  la  Dêmono- 
logie  des  Sorciers,  relates  the  following:  "I  have  heard  of  a 
person,  still  living,  who  has  a  spirit  constantly  attending  him,  and 
with  whom  he  was  becoming  well  acquainted,  having  had  his  com- 
pany for  thirty-seven  years.  Every  morning,  at  three  or  four 
o'clock,  the  spirit  knocked  at  his  door;  sometimes  he  rose  and 
opened  it,  but  saw  no  one.    His  friend,  the  king's  secretary,  who 

*  Wigan,  op.  cit.,  p.  1G7. 


HALLUCINATIONS  CONSISTENT  WITH  REASON.  73 

is  still  living,  one  day,  being  at  dinner  with  him,  hearing  the  spirit 
knock  on  a  stool  that  stood  near  to  him,  began  to  grow  red,  and 
to  fear;  but  he  said,  'Do  not  be  afraid;  it  is  nothing.'  He  as- 
sured me  that  it  had  accompanied  him  ever  since,  giving  him  a 
sensible  sign,  touching  his  right  ear  when  he  acted  wrongly, 
and  the  left  ear  if  he  did  well.  If  any  one  approached  to  sur- 
prise or  deceive  him,  he  suddenly  felt  the  signal  on  the  right 
ear  ;  if,  on  the  contrary,  it  was  a  rich  man  who  came  for  his  good, 
he  felt  the  signal  on  the  left  ear.  If  he  had  a  bad  thought,  and 
dwelt  upon  it,  he  felt  the  signal  to  desist;  and  if  he  had  bad 
dreams,  or  unpleasant  reveries — the  result  of  indisposition  or  a 
troubled  mind — the  spirit  would  awaken  him  at  two  or  three  in 
the  morning  ;  he  would  sleep  again,  and  have  dreams  as  to  what 
would  happen,  so  that,  he  says,  since  that  time,  nothing  has  hap- 
pened of  which  he  has  not  been  apprised,  nor  has  he  doubted 
what  he  should  believe,  or  what  course  to  pursue.  He  was 
frequently  warned  to  give  alms,  and  the  more  charitable  he  has 
been  the  better  have  his  affairs  prospered.  One  day,  his  life 
being  in  great  danger,  having  earnestly  prayed  to  God  that  he 
might  be  preserved,  he  saw,  at  dawn,  a  young  child  lying  on  the 
bed,  dressed  in  a  white  and  purple  changeable  colored  robe,  and 
of  marvellous  beauty,  which  greatly  comforted  him."* 

This  case  has  especial  interest,  being  one  of  those  examples  of 
hallucination  to  which  M.  Michea  has  given  the  name  of  dé- 
doublée, or  occurring  only  on  one  side.  Gay  Patin  [Pateniana, 
p.  3)  has  supposed  that  the  above  history  is  that  of  Bodin  him- 
self. 

Let  us  pause  awhile  on  the  considerations  suggested  by  this 
chapter,  wherein  we  have  purposely  multiplied  facts.  Many 
portraits  in  this  gallery  belong  to  well-known  characters;  we 
chose  them  in  preference,  because  it  never  entered  into  any  one's 
mind  to  consider  those  who  were  the  subjects  of  these  hallucina- 
tions as  madmen.  In  fact,  some  of  these  persons  appreciated 
them  at  their  value,  as  the  tricks  of  imagination,  the  effects  of 
an  unhealthy  condition  of  the  body  ;  while  others,  implicitly  be- 
lieving in  the  supernatural,  were  induced,  through  self-confidence, 

*  Bodin  Augevin,  De  la  Démonomanie  des  Sorciers  grand,  in  8vo.  Paris, 
1587,  p.  11,  et  seq.  At  Rouen,  there  is  an  edition  in  Svo.,  which  was  pub- 
lished at  Anvers  in  1593. 


74  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

or  by  reason  of  the  opinions  of  the  time,  or  their  superstitious 
notions,  secretly  to  explain  them  in  a  manner  to  suit  them- 
selves; but  neither  their  conversation  nor  their  conduct  gave  any 
indications  of  a  disordered  mind.  Perhaps  with  some,  hallucina- 
tions have  been  the  source  of  noble  actions  !  Frequently,  how- 
ever, we  can  trace  the  transition  from  hallucinations  in  a  state  of 
sanity  to  those  which  exist  in  a  state  of  madness,  without  always 
being  able  to  lay  hold  of  the  distinctions  that  determine  the  sepa- 
ration, so  difficult  is  it  to  point  out  the  respective  boundaries  of 
the  two  conditions. 

In  closing  this  chapter,  we  are  happy  to  support  our  opinion 
by  the  authority  of  a  critic,  whose  acquirements,  talents,  and  in- 
genuousness every  one  acknowledges.  "It  is  certain,"  says  he, 
"  that  there  is  a  vast  difference  to  be  established  between  affec- 
tions of  the  brain  that  exclusively  attack  the  sensations,  and 
those  that  affect  the  understanding.  There  are  individuals  who, 
followed  by  voices  or  figures,  are  perfectly  aware  that  they  are 
dupes  of  their  imagination.  How  does  this  happen  ?  A  certain 
work  is  spontaneously  formed  in  the  brain,  a  work  which  ordi- 
narily operates  by  the  instigation  of  a  material  sensation.  That 
is  all.  The  rest  of  the  brain  continues  to  act  normally.  If 
delirium  exists  here,  it  is  a  partial  delirium,  and  does  not  affect 
what  is  properly  called  mind.  It  is  to  this  that  may  be  given 
the  name  of  delirium  of  the  sensations.  Other  individuals  again 
do  not  rectify  their  hallucinations  ;  they  believe  in  the  reality  of 
perceived  sensations,  but,  at  the  same  time,  they  explain  them  as 
supernatural  causes,  the  interference  of  a  higher  power,  etc.  On 
other  points,  their  conduct  is  perfectly  sensible.  In  our  opinion, 
there  is  no  more  madness  with  these  than  with  the  others.  Their 
point  of  view  being  different,  they  form  a  different  judgment  of 
the  impressions  which  they  receive  ;  they  deduce  different  con- 
sequences ;  but  the  derangement  has  not  exceeded  the  sphere  of 
the  sensorial  faculties.  In  order  that  madness  be  real,  confirmed, 
that  it  be  alienation,  it  is  requisite,  in  order  to  be  true  to  the 
etymology  of  the  word,  that  the  intellectual  portion  of  conscious- 
ness, or  that  belonging  to  the  affections,  be  injured — that  the 
individual  be  master  neither  of  his  will  nor  of  his  judgment."* 

*  A.  de  Chambé,  Analysis  of  M.  Stafkowski's  work  on  Hallucinations, 
in  their  Relations  to  Psychology,  History,  and  Medical  Jurisprudence. 


HALLUCINATIONS  CONSISTENT  WITH  REASON.  75 

Recapitulation. — Optical  and  acoustic  experience  proves  that 
hallucinations  can  be  normally  produced. 

But  it  is  in  psychological  facts  especially  that  hallucinations 
consistent  with  reason  are  observable.  Among  the  states  of  the 
mind  that  are  favorable  to  the  production  of  this  phenomenon, 
reverie  occupies  the  first  rank. 

An  important  distinction  should  be  made  between  the  reverie 
of  thinkers  and  those  of  the  weak-minded.  Noble  acts  charac- 
terize the  first;  foolish  enterprises  the  second.  In  this  case, 
differences  in  climate  and  civilization  should  be  considered,  as 
among  the  Orientals  reverie  is  universal,  and  insanity  is  rare. 

The  belief  in  the  supernatural  is  in  the  depths  of  the  heart. 
Many  noted  men  have  faith  in  their  star,  and  attribute  the  chief 
events  of  their  lives  to  it. 

From  an  examination  of  the  preceding  psychological  facts, 
and  the  observations  which  accompany  them,  we  may  conclude, 
without  fear  of  being  deceived,  that  there  are  hallucinations 
consistent  with  reason,  whether  regarded  as  deceptions,  or  ac- 
cepted as  realities  ;  but  in  this  case,  actions  do  not  depart 
from  the  common  track  ;  hallucination  is  an  exceptional  fact  that 
has  no  grievous  influence  on  the  conduct. 

The  coexistence  of  reason  and  hallucinations  will  permit  us 
hereafter  to  explain,  in  a  suitable  manner,  the  words  and  acts  of 
celebrated  men  who  have  been  wrongly  accused  of  insanity. 

These  kinds  of  hallucination  may  be  produced  at  will,  either 
physically  or  intellectually.  They  sometimes  appear  without 
any  obvious  signs  of  disordered  organization,  but  they  also  fre- 
quently arise  from  a  derangement  of  the  nervous  and  circulating 
systems.  Some  of  these  hallucinations  establish  the  transition 
from  reason  to  insanity. 

The  continuance  of  hallucinations,  althoucrh  their  character 
be  understood,  may  occasion  the  saddest  results,  even  death 
itself. 


CHAPTER    III. 

HALLUCINATIONS  OF  INSANITY  IN  ITS  SIMPLE  STATE. 

Section  I. — Simple  isolated  hallucinations — Their  action  on  the  mind — Profound 
conviction  of  the  hallucinated — Loss  of  the  senses  no  obstacle  to  hallucina- 
tions— Cases — Of  hallucination  of  hearing  by  deaf  persons — Hallucinations,  in- 
ternal and  external,  isolated  or  combined — Hallucination  of  the  sight — Visions — 
Visionaries — Belief  in  apparitions — These  hallucinations  vary  like  those  of 
hearing — Hallucinations  in  weakness  or  loss  of  sight — The  hallucinated  be- 
lieve they  can  see  inside  their  bodies,  a  power  analogous  to  that  possessed 
by  persons  magnetized — Hallucinations  of  sight  and  hearing  combined — Hallu- 
cination of  the  touch — DiiBculties  of  diagnosis — Certain  tactile  hallucinations 
referable  to  hypochondriacal  illusions — Hallucinations  of  smell  and  taste,  as  rare 
as  the  preceding — Hallucinations  rarely  unconnected  with  one  of  the  foi'ms  of 
insanity — Very  common  in  madness  and  several  other  diseases — Recapitulation. 

Section  II. — General  hallucinations — Recapitulation. 

SECT.  I.— SIMPLE,  ISOLATED  HALLUCINATIONS. 

Reason,  hitherto  intact,  is  about  to  yield  to  the  influence  of 
insanity  ;  deserting  the  reins  which  she  had  so  long  held  with  a 
firm  grasp,  she  is  about  to  give  way  to  error,  whose  caprices  and 
decrees  are  omnipotent.  In  proportion  as  the  one  acted  with 
prudence  and  circumspection,  so  will  the  other  be  obstinate  and 
impetuous. 

It  must  not,  however,  be  supposed  that  this  change  always 
takes  place  without  gradation.  Sometimes  the  unhappy  being, 
who  is  conscious  for  the  first  time  of  a  hallucination,  attempts  to 
check  it  ;  and  when  he  has  long  bneen  tormented  by  it,  and  it  still 
comes  nearer  and  nearer,  he  uses  every  effort  to  conceal  the 
struggle  from  those  who  surround  him,  keeps  silence,  and  becomes 
sad  and  morose.  Finally,  when  the  evil  has  attacked  his  body, 
he  still  strives  against  it,  convinced  that  he  is  the  sport  of  an 
illusion.  It  may  even  happen  that  none  of  his  actions  are  influ- 
enced by  the  hallucination.  But  it  is  most  frequently  the  case 
that  it  carries  with  it  a  strong  conviction  to  which  the  sufierers 
slavishly  bow,  blindly  following  all  its  dictates. 


HALLUCINATIONS  OF  INSANITY  IN  ITS  SIMPLE  STATE.  77 

Hallucinations  of  hearing. — Sometimes  the  hallucinated  hears 
a  voice  that  whispers  in  his  car  the  strangest  words,  and  issues  the 
most  extravagant  orders.  These  voices  almost  always  occur  in 
the  silence  of  night,  at  twilight,  dawn,  and  in  gloom  and  dark- 
ness. Do  we  not  see,  in  this  fact,  a  physiological  phenomenon 
common  to  mankind?  Is  it  not  at  such  hours  that  he  experiences 
those  shades  of  restless  anxiety  and  fear  against  which  reason 
does  not  always  keep  guard  ?  Hallucinations  of  hearing  are  the 
most  common;  they  have  been  estimated  as  comprising  two-thirds 
of  the  whole.  Dr.  Baillarger  attributes  the  presence  of  hallu- 
cinations, at  such  times,  to  diminished  watchfulness.  The  case 
of  Elake  does  not  support  this  opinion. 

Case  XXVIII.  M.  N.,  fifty-five  years  of  age,  was,  in  1812, 
prefect  in  a  large  German  town  that  rebelled  against  the  French 
army  in  its  retreat.  The  confusion  arising  from  these  events 
disorders  the  brain  of  the  prefect.  He  imagines  himself  accused 
of  high  treason,  and  consequently  dishonored.  In  this  state,  he 
cuts  his  throat  Avith  a  razor  ;  on  recovering  his  senses,  he  hears 
voices  accusing  him.  Cured  of  his  wound,  the  same  voices  fol- 
low him;  he  is  persuaded  that  he  is  surrounded  with  spies, 
and  denounced  to  his  enemies.  These  voices  repeat  to  him  day 
and  night  that  he  has  betrayed  his  duty,  is  dishonored,  and  that 
nothing  is  left  but  to  kill  himself;  they  speak  successively  in  all 
the  European  languages,  with  which  the  sufferer  is  familiar;  one 
voice  alone  is  less  clear  than  the  others,  for  it  uses  the  Russian, 
with  which  Mr.  N,  is  less  conversant.  In  the  midst  of  these  con- 
flicting voices,  he  hears  that  of  a  lady,  who  frequently  bids  him 
take  courage,  and  have  faith. 

Frequently  Mr,  N.  shuts  himself  up,  that  he  may  better  hear 
and  understand  ;  he  questions,  he  replies,  he  bids  defiance,  he 
grows  angry,  in  addressing  those  whom  he  imagines  speak  to 
him  ;  he  is  convinced  that  his  enemies,  by  various  methods,  can 
divine  his  most  intimate  thoughts,  and  convey  to  him  reproaches, 
menaces,  and  overwhelm  him  with  the  most  sinister  advice.  On 
other  points,  he  reasons  perfectly  well,  and  all  his  intellectual 
faculties  are  perfectly  sound. 

Returning  to  his  country,  Mr.  N.  passes  the  summer  of  1812 
in  his  chateau,  where  he  receives  much  company.  When  con- 
versation interests  him,  he  hears  no  voices;  if  it  languishes,  he 
hears  them  imperfectly,  and  then  withdraws,  the  better  to  listen 


78  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

to  these  treacherous  voices;  he  becomes  more  restless  and  sus- 
picious. The  folloAving  autumn  he  comes  to  Paris;  the  same 
symptoms  beset  him  during  the  journey,  and  provoke  him  on  his 
arrivaL  The  voices  repeat:  "Kill  yourself;  you  cannot  survive 
your  dishonor  !"  "No,  no,"  replies  the  sufferer,  "I  vail  not  die 
till  I  am  justified  ;  I  \^àll  not  bequeath  a  dishonored  memory  to 
my  daughter."  He  visits  the  minister  of  police  (Real),  who 
receives  him  very  graciously,  and  endeavors  to  reassure  him  ;  but 
scarcely  is  he  in  the  street  before  the  voices  again  harass  him. 

Confided  to  my  care,  the  patient  keeps  his  room,  and  does  not 
betray  his  secret.  After  two  months,  he  appears  to  wish  that  I 
shall  prolong  my  visits.  I  take  a  notion  to  call  these  voices 
gabblers;  the  word  succeeds,  and,  in  future,  he  makes  use  of  it 
to  express  their  horrible  importunity.  I  venture  to  speak  of  his 
disorder,  and  of  the  causes  of  its  continuance  ;  he  details  to  me 
what  he  has  long  endured,  and  yields  a  little  more  attention  to 
my  arguments  ;  disputes  my  objections  ;  refutes  my  opinion  on 
the  causes  of  the  voices,  and  recalls  to  my  memory  an  invisible 
woman  in  Paris,  who,  on  being  spoken  to,  gave  answers  from  a 
distance.  Physics,  he  said,  had  made  such  progress  that,  by  aid 
of  machinery,  voices  could  be  conveyed  very  far.  "You  travelled 
post  one  hundred  leagues  ;  doubtless  the  noise  of  the  carriage 
would  prevent  your  ^a56?er6' from  being  heard?"  "Certainly; 
but  with  their  contrivances  I  heard  them  distinctly."  The  pre- 
sent state  of  politics,  the  approach  of  foreign  armies  to  Paris, 
strike  him  as  fables,  invented  to  ensnare  his  opinions.  Some 
time  after,  the  siege  of  Paris  takes  place;  the  patient  insists 
that  it  is  not  a  battle,  but  a  field-day;  that  the  journals  are 
printed  for  him.  On  the  15th  of  April,  "Shall  Ave  go  out?" 
he  asks  suddenly.  We  go  instantly  to  the  Jardin  des  Plantes, 
where  there  are  a  number  of  soldiers  wearing  the  uniform  of  all 
nations.  We  had  scarcely  gone  a  hundred  paces,  when  Mr.  N. 
seizes  me  by  the  arm:  "You  have  not  deceived  me,"  says  he  ; 
"let  us  return;  I  have  seen  enough  ;  I  was  sick  ;  I  am  cured." 

From  that  moment  the  gabblers  are  quiet,  or  are  only  heard 
in  the  morning  on  rising.  My  convalescent  can  get  rid  of  them 
by  the  briefest  conversation,  reading,  or  by  walking.  But  then 
he  looks  on  this  symptom  as  I  myself  do  ;  he  considers  it  a 
nervous  phenomenon,  and  expresses  his  astonishment  that  he  was 
80  long  duped  by  it.     He  agrees  to  the  application  of  leeches, 


HALLUCINATIONS  OF  INSANITY  IN  ITS  SIMPLE  STATE.         79 

foot-baths,  and  purgative  mineral  water.  In  the  month  of  May, 
he  resided  in  the  country,  enjoying  perfect  health,  notwithstand- 
ing he  had  had  the  misfortune  to  lose  his  only  daughter,  and  had 
other  afflictions.  Mr.  N.  returned  to  his  country  in  I8I0,  where 
he  was  called  to  the  ministry. 

This  instance  is  the  most  simple  case  of  hallucination  of  hear- 
ing that  I  have  gathered.  The  hallucination  characterized  the 
cerebral  affection  of  the  patient  ;  his  inquietude,  his  mistrust, 
his  fears,  were  only  the  results  of  the  phenomenon,  which  lasted 
during  two  months,  although  he  had  perfectly  recovered  the  exer- 
cise of  his  understanding.  Was  custom  the  cause  of  this  perti- 
nacity ?* 

Case  XXIX.  The  patient  who  is  the  subject  of  this  case  had 
shown  much  talent  in  the  public  office  to  which  he  was  attached  ; 
but,  overpowered  with  his  fixed  idea,  he  ceased  to  acquit  himself 
of  his  duties,  became  tiresome  to  his  colleagues,  and  was  obliged 
to  resign.  His  mind  was  perfect  when  he  spoke  on  subjects  for- 
eign to  his  hallucination.  On  this  subject  he  was  immovable,  and 
advanced  very  specious  reasons  in  favor  of  his  argument.  We 
transcribe  one  of  his  letters,  addressed  to  a  person  in  authority, 
as  a  specimen  of  his  frenzy  : — 

"  Sir,  I  had  the  honor  to  write  you  last  year  on  the  subject  of 
a  robbery.  From  that  moment,  and  even  farther  back,  I  have 
heard,  both  at  my  own  house  and  at  my  office,  the  most  deafening 
noises,  which  were  quite  insupportable.  At  the  same  time,  I  was 
offered,  from  a  place  that  appeared  near  to  my  house,  the  grossest 
insults.  Individuals  and  various  objects  were  named  to  me  inces- 
santly, night  and  day.  I  was  fatigued  with  these  infernal  tricks. 
They  hâve  caused,  and  still  do  cause  me,  at  certain  hours,  abstrac- 
tions that  all  my  presence  of  mind  fails  to  combat.  To  put  the 
climax  to  these  stupid  and  annoying  manœuvres,  they  have  sent 
me  to  Dr.  Boismont's  madhouse,  where  they  continue  the  same 
punishment. 

"  I  have  just  written  to  legal  authorities,  who,  I  am  told,  ought 
to  know  what  are  trespasses  against  individual  liberty.  I  hope 
they  will  interpose,  in  order  that  the  law  may  have  its  full  and 
plain  effect,  and  that  I  may  be  removed  from  a  situation  so  pre- 
judicial to  my  interests.     I  have  begged  them  to  write  to  or  to 

*  Esquirol,  Des  Maladies  Mentales,  1838,  vol.  i.  p.  160. 


80  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

see  me  as  frequently  as  they  judge  it  advisable,  in  order  that 
they  may  assure  themselves,  in  the  absence  of  the  physicians, 
not  only  that  my  reason  is  sound,  but  that  it  has  never  ceased  to 
be  in  a  normal  state.  I  hope  this  will  urge  them  to  take  measures 
against  the  guilty,  and  restore  me  to  liberty. 

"  Your  friendly  solicitude  leads  me  to  believe  that  you  will 
give  a  satisfactory  issue  to  this  affair,  and  that  in  a  few  days 
hence  I  shall  be  at  liberty  to  return  home,  and  to  do  what  I  con- 
sider right,  taking  only  my  own  will  forjudge." 

Persons  who  have  distressing  hallucinations  make  every  effort 
to  convince  others  of  the  reality  of  their  sensations,  and,  per- 
suaded of  their  truth,  overwhelm  the  authorities  with  complaints. 
Sometimes  their  pretended  griefs  are  exhibited  so  artfully,  that 
it  requires  an  attentive  and  repeated  examination  to  arrive  at  a 
knowledge  of  the  truth. 

The  loss  of  the  senses  is  not  an  obstacle  to  hallucinations. 
This  fact,  which  appears  to  us  the  clearest  line  of  demarcation 
between  hallucination  and  illusion,  proves  that  sensations  and 
images,  once  received  in  the  brain,  remain  there  for  a  length  of 
time. 

Case  XXX.  An  ecclesiastic,  deprived  of  hearing,  composed 
Latin  and  French  poems,  discourses,  letters,  and  sermons,  in 
several  languages.  He  imagined  he  wrote  from  the  dictation  of 
the  archangel  Michael,  asserting  that  of  himself  he  was  unable 
to  produce  so  many  and  such  beautiful  works.* 

Madame  M.,  twenty-four  years  of  age,  almost  entirely  deaf, 
imagined  that  her  husband,  who  had  been  dead  for  several  years, 
was  walking  on  the  roof  of  the  establishment.  She  called  on 
him  night  and  day,  and  conversed  with  him.  "Ah,  my  God!" 
said  she,  "  he  says  he  is  naked  ;  quick,  bring  him  clothes.  He 
complains  that  he  has  nothing  to  eat  :  give  him  broth,  a  glass  of 
wine."     And  she  sighed,  complained,  wept,  and  tore  her  hair. 

Invisible  voices  may  be  external  or  internal  ;  they  come  from 
heaven,  from  neighboring  houses,  from  the  angles  of  a  room, 
from  the  chimney,  from  wardrobes,  from  mattresses  ;  but  they 
may  also  come  from  the  head,  the  stomach,  or  any  other  import- 
ant organ.  "Sir,"  said  a  madman  to  us  one  day,  pointing  to  his 
stomach,  "strange  things  pass  there;  I  constantly  hear  a  voice 

*  Calmiel,  art.  Hallucination,  p.  519,  Dictionnaire,  in  30  vols.  2d  edition. 


HALLUCINATIONS  OF  INSANITY  IN  ITS  SIMPLE  STATE.  81 

that  speaks  to  me,  addresses  to  me  menaces  and  insults;"  and  all 
the  day  he  was  leaning  down  to  listen. 

Should  buzzing  in  the  ears  be  ranked  amongst  hallucinations, 
as  some  medical  men  think  ?  We  think  that  this  symptom,  and 
others  analogous  to  it,  belong  to  illusions  ;  for  in  the  greater 
number  of  cases  there  exists  an  arterial  beating  or  some  other 
organic  modification  that  the  insane  person  transforms  into  real 
sensations. 

Hallucinations  of  hearing  are  oftentimes  isolated;  but  they 
may  be  combined  with  those  of  sight  or  of  the  other  senses. 

Hallucinations  of  Sight. — In  all  times,  these  hallucinations 
have  played  an  important  part  in  the  history  of  mankind,  and 
to  them  has  been  more  particularly  attached  the  name  of  visions, 
whence  the  appellation  of  visionaries  to  those  who  are  thus 
affected.  Every  nation,  and  every  celebrated  man,  has  felt  their 
influence.  In  the  Middle  Ages,  the  belief  in  visions  was  general. 
Spirits  haunted  castles  and  cemeteries  ;  there  was  no  one  but 
had  seen  an  apparition. 

At  the  present  time,  the  north  of  Europe,  and  some  of  our 
provinces,  manifest  a  belief  in  visions.  Authors  fill  their  pages 
with  wonderful  histories,  which  the  ignorant  skepticism  of  the 
eighteenth  century  had  banished  as  old  women's  fables  ;  the 
more  enlightened  science  of  these  days  explains  them  naturally, 
giving  them  a  destiny  similar  to  the  recitals  of  Herodotus  and 
Marco  Polo,  which  were  at  first  well  received,  then  for  a  long 
period  rejected  as  fabulous,  and  now  again  receive  their  just 
appreciation. 

Hallucinations  of  sight,  by  their  number  and  their  frequency, 
hold  the  second  rank  among  the  singular  aberrations  of  the 
human  mind. 

Case  XXXI.  M.  N.,  forty  years  of  age,  was  suffering  much 
domestic  affliction.  Like  many  others,  he  sought  to  drown  his 
sorrows  in  wine.  Several  months  before  his  disease,  he  became 
restless  and  straage.  On  the  30th  of  April,  184-,  without  more 
excess  than  common,  he  was  taken  with  a  febrile  delirium,  for 
which  he  was  bled.  Thirty  leeches  were  placed  behind  his  ears; 
which  bled  for  twenty-four  hours.  By  means  of  this  and  other 
suitable  remedies,  he  enjoyed  a  brief  respite  ;  but  the  symptoms 
of  excitement  recurred  ;  he  uttered  menaces  and  cries  of  terror, 
6 


82  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

and  demanded  his  knife,  to  kill  the  intruders.     In  one  of  these 
crises  he  was  brought  to  my  establishment. 

On  his  entrance,  I  was  struck  with  the  wildness  of  his  counte- 
nance ;  his  looks  expressed  fear  and  rage  ;  he  was  violently 
agitated,  uttered  menaces  and  cries,  convinced  that  persons  were 
hidden  in  his  room,  and  under  his  bed;  every  instant  he  ex- 
claimed, "Where  are  they?"  The  next  day  he  was  put  in  the 
bath,  where,  according  to  the  plan  followed  for  many  years  in  my 
establishment,  he  remained  for  eight  hours,  receiving  the  douche 
irrigation  as  in  the  treatment  of  fractures.*  He  incessantly 
inquired  what  it  all  meant,  calling  on  the  commissioner  and  the 
king's  attorney,  and  demanding  his  liberty. 

Finding  that  the  sight  of  the  persons  in  attendance  excited 
him  greatly,  I  left  him  in  complete  solitude.  During  six  days 
he  was  bathed,  purged,  vomited,  and  received  but  little  nourish- 
ment. At  the  end  of  that  time,  he  appeared  calmer,  and  begged 
to  see  me  in  private. 

On  being  brought  before  me,  he  thus  expressed  himself:  "  Sir, 
you  did  right  in  conducting  me  into  your  establishment  ;  I  was 
then  highly  exasperated  ;  I  said  and  did  the  most  foolish  things  ; 
my  language  against  my  wife  was  entirely  senseless.  I  acknow- 
ledge that  her  conduct  is  excellent,  and  that  I  have  nothing  to 
reproach  her  with  ;  but  if  my  brain  was  turned,  it  is  no  less  true 
that  it  was  caused  by  the  scene  I  witnessed,  and  which  I  will 
describe  to  you  : — 

"  I  was  in  the  bath  which  was  prescribed  by  the  doctor,  on 
account  of  my  feverish  excitement,  when  I  saw,  as  plainly  as  I 
now  see  you,  a  man  enter  my  apartment,  entirely  dressed  in 
black.  He  looked  attentively  at  me,  then  made  grimaces  in 
order  to  provoke  me.  Indignant  at  such  conduct,  I  showed  him, 
by  my  countenance,  how  much  displeased  I  was  ;  he  then 
approached  the  stove-pipe,  seized  it,  and  springing  up  disap- 
peared by  the  opening.  I  was  quite  astounded  at  this  singular 
scene,  when  I  saw  three  men  come  from  undor  the  bed  ;  they 
advanced  towards  me,  making  the  same  gestures  and  grimaces  as 
the  first.     I  was  furious,  and  loudly  called  for  my  knife,  to  kill 

*  De  l'emploie  des  bains  prolongées  et  des  irrigations  continues  dans  le 
traitement  des  formes  aiguës  de  la  Folie,  et  en  particulier  de  la  Manie,  par 
A.  Brierre  de  Boismont.  Mémoire  de  l'Académie  de  Médecine,  t.  xiii. 
1848. 


HALLUCINATIONS  OF  INSANITY  IN  ITS  SIMPLE  STATE.         83 

them  ;  they  mounted  the  pipe  in  the  same  way,  and  disappeared 
through  the  hole.  I  had  never  seen  them  before,  but  their  faces 
are  so  engraven  on  my  mind  that  I  should  recognize  them  any- 
where. Before  they  went,  they  filled  my  sheets  and  counter- 
pane with  dirty  vermin  of  all  kinds.*  I  certainly  was  excited 
for  a  time,  but  I  will  stake  my  existence  on  the  reality  of  these 
facts." 

The  calm  and  cool  manner  in  which  Mr.  N.  recited  this  his- 
tory was  at  least  as  surprising  as  the  circumstances.  I  made  no 
observation  on  it,  because  in  the  course  of  events  his  cure  was 
not  far  off,  and  I  knew  by  experience  that  I  should  in  vain  have 
tried  to  disabuse  him,  and  on  the  contrary  might  have  irritated 
him. 

Some  days  afterwards,  the  conversation  was  renewed,  and  I 
thought  it  time  to  speak  candidly  to  him  on  his  hallucination. 
"  Well,"  said  he,  "admitting  that  it  is  but  a  notion,  am  I  not  well 
enough  to  be  allowed  to  return  home,  where  I  am  really  wanted  ?" 
For  four  days  previously,  I  had  given  him  ten  centigrammes  of 
opium  in  a  dose  ;  the  only  effect  was  to  cause  an  abundant  per- 
spiration. 

By  the  end  of  the  month,  Mr.  M.  was  completely  restored 
to  reason.  He  acknowledged  that  he  had  been  duped  by  an 
error,  promising  to  avoid  the  causes  that  had  led  to  his  malady. 
He  begged  to  remain  another  month,  in  order  to  go  at  once  into 
the  country.  I  saw  him  two  years  afterwards  ;  he  was  effectually 
cured. 

Hallucinations  of  sight  may  be  infinitely  varied,  for,  being 
most  generally  but  a  highly  colored  reflection  of  habitual 
thoughts,  they  take  as  many  forms  as  there  are  individualities. 

Case  XXXII.  The  amiable  and  learned  Harrington,  author  of 
the  Oceana,  spoke  very  sensibly  on  every  subject  but  that  con- 
nected with  his  malady.  When  on  this  subject,  he  related, 
with  the  most  lively  faith  in  the  world,  that  his  vital  spirits 
escaped  from  all  his  pores,  in  the  shape  of  birds,  flies,  bees,  etc. 
His  friends  said  that  he  often  amused  them  with  accounts  of  good 
and  evil  genii  that  caused  him  great  alarm.  He  defended  his 
opinions  so  ably  that  his  physician  found  it  difficult  to  reply. 
He  compared  himself  to  Democritus,  whose  admirable  discoveries 

*  A.  Brierre  de  Boismont,  Bibliothèque  des  Practiciens,  t.  ix.,  Maladies 
Mentales,  t.  ix,,  Folie  des  Ivrognes,  p.  478. 


84  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

in  anatomy  caused  him  to  be  looked  on  as  a  madman  by  bis 
countrymen,  until  Hippocrates  disabused  tbem.* 

One  of  the  most  powerful  arguments  that  has  been  advanced 
a^^ainst  the  existence  of  external  images  in  hallucination,  is  the 
weakening  or  loss  of  sight.  Esquirol  and  M.  Lélut  have  given 
several  examples.  It  is  incontrovertible  that,  in  the  cases  cited 
below,  the  hallucinations  were  in  the  brain. 

Case  XXXIII.  An  old  man,  who  was  more  than  eighty  years 
of  age  when  he  died,  never  sat  down  to  table,  during  the  latter 
years  of  his  life,  without  seeing  a  large  party  of  guests  around 
him,  dressed  according  to  the  style  of  half  a  century  before. 
This  old  man  could  only  see  very  feebly  with  one  eye  ;  he  also 
wore  a  green  shade.  At  different  times  he  saw  his  own  figure 
before  him,  which  seemed  to  be  reflected  by  the  shade. 

Dr.  Dewar,  of  Stirling,  told  Abercrombie  of  a  very  remarkable 
example  of  this  kind  of  hallucination.  The  subject,  entirely 
blind,  never  went  into  the  street  without  seeing  a  little  old 
woman  in  a  red  cloak,  with  a  bill-headed  cane.  This  apparition 
walked  before  her.  The  lady  never  saw  it  after  having  entered 
the  house,  t 

In  the  establishment  of  the  Faubourg  St.  Antoine|  was  a  lady, 
eighty  years  of  age,  who  had  been  blind  for  many  years,  and  who 
every  morning  desired  the  windows  and  door  of  her  room  to  be 

*  British  Bioo;raphy,  vol.  v.  p.  405  :  Le  Droit,  1850. 

t  John  Abercrombie,  Inquiries  concerning  the  Intellectual  Powers,  p. 
379,  eleventh  edition,  London,  1842. 

X  It  was  from  this  house  that  General  Mallet  escaped,  at  the  time  of  the 
retreat  from  Moscow,  who,  for  a  short  time,  perilled  the  power  of  Napoleon. 
Some  time  previously,  the  General  had  made  an  attempt  to  escape,  but  was 
detected  at  the  moment.  Notwithstanding  the  entreaties  of  his  family,  Dr. 
Dubuisson,  who  knew  the  heavy  responsibility  that  he  incurred,  gave  in 
his  report,  which  was  placed  amongst  the  government  papers.  Imme- 
diately on  the  arrest  of  Mallet,  Dubuisson  was  seized.  He  was  taken 
before  the  Minister  of  Police,  who  said  angrily  to  him  :  "You  have  allowed 
the  chief  of  the  conspirators  to  escape;  you  have  connived  with  him,  and 
must  be  sent  to  a  court-martial."  "Sir,"  replied  the  Doctor,  "it  is  the 
police  who  are  in  the  wrong  ;  I  have  done  my  duty.  Summon  the  oflBcer 
who  has  the  inspection  of  our  houses,  and  ask  him  if  he  did  not  receive  a 
circumstantial  report  of  the  first  attempt."  The  officer  is  sent  for.  "The 
gentleman  is  right,"  said  he;  "we  forgot  that."  "You  are  fortunate," 
added  the  minister,  turning  towards  M.  Dubuisson;  "without  this  report, 
you  would  have  joined  the  conspirators  on  the  plain  of  Grenelle." 


HALLUCINATIONS  OF  INSANITY  IN  ITS  SIMPLE  STATE.  85 

opened,  to  let  out  the  number  of  persons  who  filled  it,  and  whose 
dress  and  manner  she  perfectly  distinguished. 

Case  XXXIV.  An  insane  patient  saw,  on  the  right  hand, 
against  the  wall  of  his  cell,  charming  women,  to  whom  he 
addressed  by  turns  insults  and  compliments.  This  man  was 
blind.  After  his  death,  M.  Calmeil  found  atrophy  of  the  two 
optic  nerves  to  exist. 

An  aged  spinster,  whose  visions  greatly  excited  her,  struggled 
against  a  swarm  of  flying  spectres,  which  she  likened  to  human 
figures,  who  formed  a  thick  cloud  around  her.  At  night,  in 
order  not  to  see  these  cruel  shadows,  she  constantly  covered 
herself  with  a  mattress.* 

We  read  in  the  history  of  the  Inquisition,  by  Llorente,  that 
the  possessed  perceived  devils  in  their  bodies,  who  concealed 
themselves  under  different  forms.  We  have  frequently  heard 
insane  persons  profess  to  see  what  was  passing  in  their  brain, 
their  stomach,  their  intestines,  and  in  their  most  delicate  tissues; 
but  if  questions  were  pressed  on  them  they  gave  only  the 
strangest  and  most  confused  explanations,  unless  those  parts 
of  the  body  were  known  to  them.  Does  not  this  trait  bear  re- 
semblance to  magnetism,  which,  in  a  great  many  cases,  gives 
only  reminiscences  or  revelations  more  or  less  vague? 

Hallucinations  of  hearing  and  sight  are  often  united  ;  we  give 
an  example  taken  from  a  collection  of  cases,  whose  authenticity 
was  guaranteed  to  us  by  one  of  the  physicians  of  Bethlem. 

Case  XXXV.  Some  years  ago,  there  was  in  Bedlam  (Beth- 
lem) a  madman  of  the  name  of  Blake,  nicknamed  The  Seer  ;  he 
believed  profoundly  in  the  reality  of  his  visions  ;  he  conversed 
with  Michael  Angelo,  chatted  with  Moses,  dined  with  Semiramis; 
there  was  nothing  of  charlatanism  in  his  manner  ;  he  was  con- 
vinced. The  past  opened  to  him  its  dark  portals  ;  the  land  of 
shadows  -lived  for  him.  Whatever  was  grand,  surprising,  and 
celebrated  came  before  Blake. 

This  man  had  appointed  himself  painter  to  the  spectres  ;  his 
paper  and  crayons  were  always  before  him  to  depict  the  faces 
and  attitudes  of  his  heroes,  whom  he  did  not  evoke,  but  who 

*  Calmeil,  art.  Hallucination,  p.  526:  Dictionnaire  de  Médecine,  2d 
edition,  vol.  xiv. 


86  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

flocked  to  him  for  their  portraits.  Visitors  could  examine  large 
volumes  of  these  drawings,  amongst  which  were  portraits  of 
the  devil  and  his  mother.  "  When  I  entered  his  cell,"  said  the 
author  of  this  relation,  "he  was  drawing  a  girl,  whose  spectre, 
he  said,  had  just  appeared  to  him. 

"Edward  III.  was  one  of  his  most  assiduous  visitors.  In 
acknowledgment  of  the  condescension  of  the  monarch,  he  had 
painted  his  portrait  in  oil  in  three  sittings.  I  questioned  him 
in  a  manner  intended  to  puzzle  him  ;  but  his  replies  were  naive 
and  unembarrassed  in  manner. 

"  'Are  these  gentlemen  announced  ?  Do  they  send  you  their 
cards  ?'  '  No,  but  I  know  them  as  soon  as  they  appear.  I  did 
not  expect  Mark  Antony  last  night,  but  I  recognized  the  Roman 
as  soon  as  he  entered.' 

"  'At  what  hour  do  your  illustrious  guests  visit  you?'  'At  one; 
sometimes  their  visits  are  long,  sometimes  short.  I  saw  that 
poor  Job  the  day  before  yesterday  ;  he  only  stayed  two  minutes  ; 
I  had  scarcely  time  to  make  a  sketch,  which  I  afterwards  copied 
in  aquafortis — But  hush — here  is  Richard  III.'  'Where  do  you 
see  him?'  'Opposite  to  you,  on  the  other  side  of  the  table;  it  is 
his  first  visit,'  'How  do  you  know  his  name?'  'My  spirit  recog- 
nizes him;  I  do  not  know  how.'  'What  countenance  has  he?' 
'  Harsh,  but  handsome  ;  I  only  as  yet  see  his  profile.  Now  he  is 
three  quarters.  Ah!  now  he  turns  towards  me;  he  is  terrible 
to  look  on.' 

"'Can  you  question  him?'  'Certainly;  what  do  you  wish  to 
ask?'  'If  he  can  justify  the  murders  he  committed  during  his  life.' 
'Your  question  has  already  reached  him;  my  soul  holds  converse 
with  his  by  intuition  and  magnetism.  We  do  not  require  words.' 
'What  is  the  reply  of  his  majesty?'  'This;  but  in  more  words 
than  he  conveyed  it  to  me.  You  would  not  understand  the 
spirit  language.  He  says  that  what  you  call  murder  «and  car- 
nage is  nothing  ;  that  to  slaughter  fifteen  or  twenty  thousand 
men  does  them  no  harm  ;  that  the  mortal  part  of  their  being  is 
not  only  preserved,  but  passes  into  a  better  world  ;  and  that  the 
murdered  man  who  should  reproach  his  assassin  would  be  guilty 
of  ingratitude,  since  the  latter  has  only  procured  his  entrance 
into  a  more  perfect  existence.  But  leave  me;  he  stands  in  a 
good  position  now  ;   and  if  you  say  a  word,  he  will  go.' 


HALLUCINATIONS  OP  INSANITY  IN  ITS  SIMPLE  STATE.  87 

"Blake  is  a  large  man,  pale,  talks  well  and  really  eloquently, 
and  has  talent  in  engraving  and  designing."* 

Spinello,  in  painting  the  fall  of  the  bad  angels,  represented 
Lucifer  under  an  aspect  so  horrible,  that,  frightened  at  his  own 
work,  he  had  incessantly  before  his  eyes  the  figure  of  the  devil,  --^ 
who  reproached  him  for  the  dreadful  form  he  had  given  him  in 
his  picture,  t 

We  may  here  refer  to  the  case  of  Berbiguier  de  Terre 
Neuve  du  Thym,  surnamed  the  Scourge  of  Hohgohlins,  who  pub- 
lished his  hallucinations  in  three  large  volumes  ',%  we  shall  have 
occasion  to  speak  of  them  soon  in  treating  of  other  hallucina- 
tions. 

Case  XXXVI.  A  gentleman,  aged  thirty-five,  active,  and  in 
good  health,  living  near  London,  had  for  five  weeks  complained 
of  a  slight  headache.  He  was  rather  feverish,  and  neglected  his 
avocations  and  his  family.  He  had  been  cupped,  and  had  taken 
some  medicine,  when  he  received  a  visit  from  Dr.  Arnold,  of 
Camberwell,  by  whose  advice  he  was  placed  in  an  asylum,  where 
he  passed  two  years  ;  his  delirious  fancies  lessened  by  degrees, 
until  he  was  restored  to  his  family. 

The  details  which  he  has  given  of  his  malady  are  so  interest- 
ing that  we  do  not  hesitate  to  repeat  them  almost  verbatim. 
"  One  afternoon  in  the  month  of  May,"  says  this  gentleman, 
"feeling  unwell,  and  little  disposed  for  business,  I  determined  to 
take  a  walk  in  the  city,  to  divert  myself.  Having  reached  St. 
Paul's  churchyard,  I  stopped  at  the  print-shop  of  Carrington 
and  Bowles  to  look  at  some  engravings  of  the  Cathedral.  I  had 
been  there  but  a  short  time,  when  an  old  gentleman,  small, 
serious-looking,  and  dressed  in  brown,  also  stopped  to  examine 
them.  Our  eyes  by  chance  meeting,  he  commenced  a  conversa- 
tion, admired  the  view  from  St.  Paul's,  related  several  anecdotes 
of  the  architect.  Sir  Christopher  Wren,  and  asked  if  I  had  ever 
been  in  the  dome. 

"On  my  replying  in  the  negative,  and  finding  that  I  had  not 
dined,  he  proposed  to  repair  to  a  neighboring  tavern,  and  said 

*  British  Review,  July,  1803,  p.  184. 
t  Tissot,  Serm.  inaug.  de  litteratum  valetudine,  p.  20. 
X  Les  Farfadots,  ou  tous  les  Démons  ne  sont  pas  de  l'autre  monde,  par 
Berbiguier  de  Terre  Neuve  du  Thym.,  3  vols,  in  Svo.  Paris,  1821. 


88  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

that,  after  the  repast,  he  -would  accompany  me  to  St.  Paul's  ; 
the  day,  he  added,  was  magnificent  for  the  view,  and,  as  he  was 
familiar  with  the  place,  he  would  point  out  all  the  objects  of 
interest.  The  politeness  of  the  old  gentleman  induced  me  to 
accept  his  invitation,  and  we  went  to  a  tavern,  in  a  dark  alley, 
the  name  of  which  I  do  not  remember. 

"After  a  hasty  dinner,  we  mounted  to  the  ball  which  is  placed 
immediately  under  the  cross,  and  we  entered  it  alone.  We 
had  been  there  some  minutes  admiring  the  superb  panorama  be- 
fore us,  when  the  old  gentleman  drew  from  a  side-pocket  of  his 
coat  an  instrument  that  resembled  a  compass,  and  on  which  some 
curious  figures  were  engraved;  he  murmured  some  unintelligible 
words,  and  placed  it  in  the  centre  of  the  ball. 

"I  was  seized  with  a  violent  trembling  and  a  kind  of  horror, 
which  greatly  increased  on  his  offer  to  show  me,  if  I  wished,  a 
distant  friend,  and,  also,  what  he  was  at  that  moment  doing. — 
My  father  had  long  been  ill,  and  I  had  not  been  to  see  him  for 
some  weeks  ;  the  sudden  wish  to  see  him  overcame  all  my  scru- 
ples. No  sooner  had  I  formed  this  wish  than  I  saw  my  father 
in  a  mirror  ;  he  was  reclining  in  a  chair,  taking  his  usual  nap. 
As  I  had  somewhat  doubted  the  power  of  the  old  gentleman,  I 
was  frozen  with  terror,  and  feeling  very  ill,  begged  him  instantly 
to  descend.  He  complied;  and,  on  parting  under  the  north  por- 
tico, he  said,  '  Remember,  that  you  are  the  slave  of  the  man  of 
the  mirror.'  I  returned  home,  at  night,  unhappy,  restless,  and 
fearful,  and  full  of  thoughts  of  the  stranger  ;  for  the  last  three 
months,  I  have  never  ceased  to  feel  his  power." 

Dr.  Arnold  asked  the  patient  in  what  manner  the  man  of  the 
mirror  exercised  his  influence  over  him.  Throwing  a  suspicious 
glance  on  the  doctor,  he  took  him  by  the  arm,  led  him  through 
two  or  three  rooms,  and  at  length  into  the  garden,  when  he  ex- 
claimed :  "  It  is  useless  ;  nothing  can  hide  us  from  him,  for  every 
place  is  open  to  him  ;  he  sees  and  hears  us  now." 

"I  requested  him,"  continued  Dr.  Arnold,  "to  show  me  the 
mysterious  individual  who  saw  and  heard  us.  He  replied,  with 
much  agitation,  '  Have  I  not  told  you  that  he  lives  in  the  ball 
under  the  cross  of  St.  Paul's,  that  he  only  comes  down  to  walk 
in  the  churchyard,  and  to  go  and  dine  in  the  dark  alley? 
Since  that  fatal  meeting  with  the  necromancer,  for  I  cannot 
call  him  by  any  other  name,  he  constantly  attracts  me  within  his 


HALLUCINATIONS  OF  INSANITY  IN  ITS  SIMPLE  STATE.  89 

mirror,  sees  me  thus  at  all  hours  in  the  day,  and  reads  mj  most 
secret  thoughts  ;  I  have  the  terrible  consciousness  that  no  act  of 
my  life  escapes  his  knowledge,  and  that  there  is  no  spot  in  which 
I  can  be  hidden  from  him.'  To  my  observation  that  the  darkness 
of  night  ought  to  protect  him  against  his  machinations,  he  replied, 
*  I  know  what  you  would  say;  but  you  are  wrong.  I  have  only 
spoken  to  you  of  the  mirror  ;  but  in  a  corner  of  the  building 
the  magician  showed  me  a  great  clock,  and  I  distinctly  heard 
the  sounds  that  came  from  it,  and  those  that  entered  ;  it  was  a 
confused  medley  of  laughter,  cries  of  anger,  of  despair,  and,  as 
I  listened  in  great  terror,  he  said,  "It  is  my  organ  of  hearing." 
This  great  clock  has  communication  with  all  the  clocks  that  are 
in  the  hieroglyphic  circle.  By  this  means  I  hear  the  words  of 
all  those  under  my  supervision.' 

"As  I  gazed  on  the  patient  with  surprise,  he  continued: 
'  I  have  not  told  you  all  ;  this  necromancer  practises  his  sorceries 
by  means  of  hieroglyphics  on  the  walls  and  houses,  and  he  spreads 
his  rod  of  fire  over  those  whom  he  has  inclosed  in  his  circle  of 
hieroglyphics,  and  who  are  the  objects  of  his  constant  hatred.' 
I  begged  him  to  explain  to  me  these  hieroglyphics,  and  how  he 
saw  them.  '  They  are,'  he  answered,  '  signs  and  symbols  that 
you,  in  your  ignorance  of  their  real  meaning,  have  rea:d  thus  : 
Day  and  3Iartin,  and  Warren  s  Blacking  [probably  handbills]. 
You  are  in  error.  These  signs  are  the  cabalistic  characters  that 
he  traces  to  intimate  the  limits  of  his  empire,  and  to  prevent  the 
escape  of  his  captives.  What  fatigues  I  have  undergone  to 
withdraw  myself  from  his  terrible  influence  !  I  once  walked  three 
days  and  three  nights,  until  I  fell,  exhausted  and  breathless, 
against  a  wall,  and  slept.  On  waking,  I  saw  the  fatal  letters, 
and  felt  that  I  was  completely  in  his  power.'  "* 

No  case  of  hallucination  can  be  more  coherent  and  calculated 
to  bring  conviction  to  the  minds  of  those  uninitiated  in  this  singu- 
lar phenomenon,  than  the  one  just  stated  by  Prichard.  Doubt- 
less, in  the  Middle  Ages,  this  patient  would  have  been  supposed 
to  be  possessed,  and  have  been  subjected  to  the  ceremonies  of  ex- 
orcism. I  am  persuaded  that,  in  our  days,  such  a  history  would 
find  many  believers.     Authentic  facts  are  related  by  persons  of 

*  A  Treatise  on  Insanity,  and  other  Disorders  affecting  the  Mind,  by 
James  Cowles  Prichard,  p.  455,  London,  1835. 


90  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

veracity,  of  apparitions  that  had  revealed  to  them  extraordinary 
things.  The  circumstantial  details  into  which  they  entered,  and 
the  air  of  truth  they  assumed,  dispelled  all  doubts. 

It  is  probable  that  this  individual  had  visited  St.  Paul's  ;  but, 
seized  with  insanity,  certain  recollections  arose,  were  fantasti- 
cally grouped,  highly  colored,  and  imagined,  until  they  appeared 
realities  to  the  sight. 

M.  Lélut,  in  a  paper  on  furely  sensorial  madness,  has  pub- 
lished several  facts,  amongst  which  the  following  appears  to  bear 
on  our  subject  : — 

Case  XXXVII.  R.  was  born  of  parents  without  fortune  ; 
his  education  was  far  from  being  religious.  At  fourteen,  he  might 
have  obtained  favors  from  a  young  girl,  but  denied  himself  on 
thinking  of  God.  In  fact,  that  thought  seemed  to  have  employed 
him  from  childhood.  At  eighteen,  his  understanding  seemed  to 
enlarge,  and  all  the  exterior  phenomena  of  the  world  appeared 
unveiled  to  his  sight  ;  he  saw  all  creation,  as  it  were,  in  a  coup 
d'œil.  The  sight  of  a  corrupt  world  saddened  him  more  and 
more  ;  that  did  not,  however,  prevent  his  learning  the  trade  of 
a  wheelwright,  by  which  he  afterwards  gained  a  livelihood.  His 
love  for  changing  his  location  and  acquaintances  increased;  he 
seemed  invariably  driven  towards  a  result  unknown  to  himself; 
he  thought  that  God  called  him  somewhere. 

In  1825,  the  jubilee  took  place.  R.  took  part  in  it,  fervently, 
and  joined,  in  preaching,  with  the  most  eloquent  missionaries. 
At  that  tinie  his  first  revelations  took  place  ;  it  appeared  to  him 
that,  from  the  epigastrium,  where  he  always  felt  a  sensation  of 
heat,  words  were  very  distinctly  pronounced,  not  such  as  sound 
on  the  ear,  but  very  easily  distinguished  from  them.  These 
words,  which  formed  prophecies  and  parables,  plunged  R.  into 
ecstasies.  His  appetite  failed,  sleep  vanished,  and  he  passed  the 
nights  in  prayer. 

During  one  of  these  excited  nights,  R.  suddenly  saw  a  lu- 
minous disk  as  large,  but  not  so  bright,  as  the  sun,  appear  in 
the  clouds  ;  a  voice  proceeded  from  the  disk  that  said  :  "  The 
children  whom  I  bless,  shall  be  blessed  ;  but  those  whom  I  curse, 
shall  be  cursed  to  the  third  and  fourth  generation."  R.,  who 
recognized  the  voice  of  God,  entered  into  communication  with 
the  uncreated,  addressing  many  questions  which  were  not  all 
replied  to.     The  conversation  lasted  three-quarters  of  an  hour. 


HALLUCINATIONS  OF  INSANITY  IN  ITS  SIMPLE  STATE.  91 

R.  began  to  understand  ■what  "were  God's  intentions  towards 
him  ;  finally,  the  Deity  told  him  to  go  to  rest. 

The  words  pronounced  from  the  epigastrium  were  very  different 
from  those  proceeding  from  the  vision.  In  the  latter,  the  words 
precisely  resembled  those  which  are  orally  heard,  which  was  not 
the  case  with  the  words  (epigastric)  of  the  revelations.  The 
vision  decided  the  fate  of  E..  ;  he  was  the  Messiah,  who  should 
come,  at  the  end  of  time,  to  draw  all  nations  to  the  same  belief, 
and  to  prepare  the  last  judgment.  It  was  in  this  quality  that 
he  commenced  prophesying  to  his  fellow-workmen,  and  that  he 
requested  audiences  with  the  Abbé  M.,  a  priest  of  Charles  the 
Tenth's  court,  and  with  the  Archbishop  of  Paris.  Being  unable 
to  succeed  in  the  latter  point,  he,  one  day  during  mass,  scaled 
the  grating  of  the  metropolitan  choir,  in  order,  he  said,  to  be 
arrested,  that  he  might  thus  make  known  the  plans  he  could  not 
otherwise  communicate.  He  had  his  wish.  He  was  taken  to 
the  police-office. 

If  we  allow  the  reality  of  R.'s  visions,  then,  indeed,  he  is  no 
madman — but  what  he  pretends  to  be,  the  Messiah.  Prior  to  his 
vision — prior  to  his  greatest  revelations,  he  did  not  know  the 
Scriptures  ;  it  was  only  subsequently  that  he  studied  them,  and 
very  artfully  applied  them  to  his  belief,  even  the  Apocalypse,  in 
which  he  found  a  clear  meaning.  "  Jesus  Christ,"  said  he,  "  is  the 
Son  of  God  ;  he  came  to  prepare  the  way,  but  he  is  not  the 
Messiah  ;  that  is  nowhere  written."  When  he  spoke  of  the  mis- 
ery reserved  for  the  wicked  at  the  end  of  time,  his  eyes  over- 
flowed with  tears  ;  he  sighed  over  their  future  torments,  and 
then  his  countenance  assumed  an  elevated  expression,  not  a  little 
extraordinary. 

He  believed  in  the  evil  spirit,  and  spoke  of  him  with  pain  ;  he 
had  a  singular  theory  of  hell.  "  Thither,"  said  he,  "go  all  the 
sounds  that  are  lost  on  earth,  all  the  lights  and  fires  that  vanish 
in  the  air  ;  but  punishments  will  not  be  eternal,  at  least  for  those 
who  were  placed  there  before  the  last  judgment." 

At  the  end  of  fourteen  months,  he  was  found  so  disposed  to 
postpone,  until  a  more  favorable  time,  his  projects  of  reform 
that,  under  a  regular  certificate,  he  was  restored  to  society.* 

*  Observations  sur  la  Folie  sensoriale,  par  Lélut,  p.  284.  Du  Démon 
de  Socrate,  1  vol.  in  8vo.,  1834. 


92  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

This  case  may  be  placed  amongst  those  cited  to  establish  the 
analogy  which  exists  between  hallucinated  persons  and  the  found- 
ers of  religion.  However  painful  to  humanity  may  be  the  opinion 
of  those  who  represent  it  as  touched  with  madness  relative  to 
many  questions  of  a  social  nature,  and  with  respect  to  the  reali- 
zation of  thoughts  which  appear  to  us,  and  to  others,  the  concep- 
tions of  genius,  we  believe  that  this  apparent  parity  should  be 
opposed  by  more  direct  reasons.  We  do  not  discover  in  R.  that 
strong  will,  logical  reasoning,  and  fixity  of  purpose  that  belong 
to  those  having  a  providential  mission.  His  was  a  weak  mind 
inflamed  with  religious  ideas,  which,  like  many  of  that  temper,  he 
exaggerated,  until,  finally,  all  his  actions  had  reference  thereto. 
Instead  of  marching  at  the  head  of  his  ideas,  commanding  them 
in  person,  being  their  promoter,  their  standard,  he  could  neither 
originate  nor  develop  them;  they  drew  him  along,  or,  rather, 
they  absorbed  him.  The  man  of  genius  controls  and  directs  his 
idea,  and  makes  it  fruitful.  The  madman  has  no  power  over 
his  ;  he  follows  it  as  its  shadow,  and  obeys  all  its  caprices.  In 
short,  one  is  the  king"  of  his  idea,  the  other  the  slave. 

In  the  case  of  R.,  there  are  multiplied  proofs  of  madness. 
It  is  God  who  tells  him  to  go  to  bed;  it  is  his  stomach  that 
speaks  to  him.  Scaling  the  grating  of  the  cathedral  was  the 
act  of  a  madman  ;  had  he  been  master  of  himself,  he  would  have 
known  that  it  would  lead  to  the  police-office  and  the  madhouse. 
Thence  he  proved  that  he  no  longer  looked  sanely  on  things, 
and  that  several  of  his  intellectual  faculties  were  injured. 

Nevertheless,  we  have  always  observed,  in  the  great  number 
of  cases  of  hallucination  that  have  come  under  our  notice 
during  more  than  twenty  years,  that,  by  the  side  of  a  well- 
sustained  reasoning,  which  appeared  the  result  of  an  idea,  was 
placed  an  incoherent  word  or  a  whimsical  act — in  a  word,  the 
seed  of  madness. 

Hallucinations  of  the  Touch. — These  have  been  considered 
very  difficult  to  study,  because  they  have  been  confounded  with 
neuralgic  and  visceral  afiections  ;  but  there  are  doubtless  some 
hallucinated  quite  capable  of  describing  their  sensations,  who 
speak  confidently  of  having  been  pinched  and  struck,  and  who 
had  received  electric  shocks  on  various  parts  of  the  body. 
Latterly  we  examined,  in  company  with  Messrs.  Foville,  Mi- 
chon,  and  Seguin,  a  young  man  who  declared  that  magnetizers 


HALLUCINATIONS  OF  INSANITY  IN  ITS  SIMPLE  STATE.  93 

were  every  moment  darting  magnetic  fluid  into  his  breast,  his 
back,  and  arms,  and  that  he  sensibly  felt  the  contact  of  that 
agent.     He  had  no  neuralgic  affection. 

Case  XXXVIII.  Mathews,  whose  curious  case  Haslam  has 
described  in  a  pamphlet,  believed  himself  the  victim  of  a  troop 
of  wretches,  living  in  an  obscure  place  near  London.  These 
persecutors,  by  their  talents  in  pneumatic  chemistry,  had  the 
power  to  inflict  on  him  several  kinds  of  torture.  At  one  time, 
they  held  tight  the  fibres  of  his  tongue  ;  at  another,  they  spread 
a  veil  over  his  brain,  and  thus  intercepted  the  communication 
between  his  heart  and  mind.  By  the  aid  of  a  magnetic  fluid,  they 
bound  him  nearly  to  suffocation,  introduced  gas  into  his  skull, 
stretched  his  brain,  distended  his  nerves,  and  threw  all  his 
thoughts  into  disorder.  In  order  to  discover  by  what  means 
these  invisible  tormentors  made  him  thus  suffer,  he  invented  a 
strange  machine,  the  design  of  which  he  exhibited.  The  assas- 
sins, as  he  called  them,  had  similar  machines  in  a  number  of 
different  places,  which  they  used  for  the  purpose  of  tormenting 
persons,  or  making  them  act  as  they  chose.* 

M.  Calmeil  reports  the  case  of  a  veteran  who  felt  himself 
every  night  nailed  in  a  coffin,  and  carried  in  men's  arms,  by  a 
subterranean  road,  from  Charenton  to  Vincennes,  where  a 
funeral  service  was  chanted  in  the  chapel  of  the  chateau.  The 
same  invisible  persons  brought  him  back,  and  placed  him  on  his 
bed. 

We  attended  an  Englishman  who  thought  he  was  carried  off  at 
night,  to  distant  countries — to  the  East,  to  Cairo,  to  London  ;  he 
complained  of  the  ill  treatment  he  received  from  the  agents  who 
were  charged  with  the  mission.  He  declared  that  they  bound 
his  arms  and  his  neck,  and  covered  him  with  bruises.  The  idea 
made  him  very  unhappy.  Madame  D.  frequently  pointed  out 
imaginary  marks  of  blows,  which  were  given  her  during  the 
night  by  individuals  who  wished  to  do  her  violence.  In  by- 
gone days,  the  devil  would  have  been  accused  of  the  crime  ;  in 
this  case,  we  see  only  an  exaggerated  physical  fact,  which  many 
can  appreciate.  Sorcerers  rode  to  their  place  of  rendezvous  on 
a  broom-handle,  on  a  he-goat,  or  a  hairy  man  ;  they  were  con- 

*  Illustrations  of  Madness,  exhibiting  a  Singular  Case  of  Insanity,  by 
John  Haslam,  London,  1843. 


94  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

scious  of  the  movement.  The  sensation  of  flying  is  rather  com- 
mon. Frequently  in  dreams,  we  feel  ourselves  borne  along  with 
the  rapidity  of  an  arrow  ;  we  accomplish  great  distances,  just 
lightly  touching  the  ground.  We  have  noticed  this  fact  in  a 
literary  man  of  our  acquaintance,  whom  we  several  times  found 
with  fixed  eyes,  and  who  said  to  us,  "I  am  flying  ;  do  not  stop 
me  !"  On  returning  to  himself,  he  described  his  sensations;  and 
it  seemed  to  him  that  he  really  had  flown.  This  sensation  was 
experienced  so  far  back  as  the  times  of  St.  Jerome,  who  relates 
that  frequently  in  his  dreams,  he  felt  himself  flying  over  mount- 
ains, seas,  &c.* 

Madame  D'Arnim,  Goethe's  friend,  in  speaking  of  this  fact, 
says  :  "I  was  certain  that  I  flew,  and  floated  in  the  air.  By  a 
simple  elastic  pressure  of  the  point  of  the  toe,  I  was  in  the  air. 
I  floated  silently  and  deliciously  at  two  or  three  feet  above  the 
earth;  I  alighted,  mounted  again;  I  flew  from  side  to  side,  and 
then  returned.  A  few  days  after,  I  was  taken  with  fever  ;  I 
went  to  bed  and  slept.  It  happened  two  weeks  after  I  was  con- 
fined."t 

The  strange  tactile  sensations  noticed  in  many  insane  persons 
appear  to  us  rather  to  belong  to  hypochondriacal  illusions. 

Amongst  the  remarkable  cases  of  hallucination  of  touch,  we 
must  not  omit  Berbiguier,  who  thought  that  goblins  were  con- 
tinually moving  over  his  body,  and  fatigued  him  so  much  that 
he  was  obliged  to  sit  down.  These  invisible  enemies  travelled 
over  him  day  and  night,  and  their  odor  was  so  bad  as  nearly  to 
suffocate  him.  To  defend  himself  against  their  power,  he  fan- 
cied that  he  adroitly  seized  them  under  his  linen,  fixed  them  to 
his  mattress  with  millions  of  pins,  or  put  them  into  bottles.| 

Sallucinations  of  Smell. — It  is  stated  that  these  may  exhibit 
themselves  at  the  commencement  of  all  cases  of  insanity,  and 
especially  in  partial  delirium.  It  has  been  remarked  that, 
while  saints  perfume,  devils  infect  an  apartment.  Hallucinations 
of  smell,  like  those  of  taste,  very  seldom  exist  alone  ;  they  are 
combined  with  those  of  sight,  hearing,  and  touch.  They  are 
less  frequent  than  hallucinations  of  the  other  senses. 

*  Saint  Jerome,  Polémique,  c.  Rufin,  liv.  i.  Panthéon  littéraire, 
t  Correspondence  de  Goethe  et  de   Bettina,  translated  by  M.  Sebast. 
Albin,  t.  i.  p.  68. 
X  Berbiguier,  op.  cit.  vol.  i.  p.  126,  et  seq. 


HALLUCINATIONS  OF  INSANITY  IN  ITS  SIMPLE  STATE.         95 

Deranged  persons,  "who  experience  these  hallucinations,  com- 
plain of  being  pursued  by  offensive  effluvias,  or  they  believe  they 
inhale  the  most  delicious  perfumes,  whilst  in  truth  there  is  no 
scent  near  them  ;  some,  indeed,  before  their  attack,  are  de- 
prived of  smell.  An  insane  woman  declares  that  there  exist 
under  the  Salpétrière  (an  insane  hospital),  vaults,  in  which  a 
number  of  men  and  women  are  strangled  ;  every  day  she  per- 
ceives a  horrible  smell  arising  from  the  decomposition  of  all 
these  bodies  buried  under  ground.*  We  have,  in  our  establish- 
ment, a  lady,  who,  after  attempting  to  strangle  herself,  per- 
ceived everywhere  the  smell  of  coal  ;  she  stopped  up  her  nose, 
inhaled  vinegar,  etc.  This  scent  followed  her  constantly.  M. 
Esquirol  reports  a  similar  case. 

hallucinations  of  Taste. — These  are  not  more  common  than 
the  preceding.  The  patients,  especially  those  who  are  in  the 
first  stage  of  madness  with  general  paralysis,  express  delight 
at  the  good  fare  they  have  had  ;  praise  the  flavor  of  the  dishes, 
and  the  aroma  of  the  wines,  when  really  they  have  tasted  nothing. 
A  lady,  who  had  been  noted  for  her  intelligence,  passed  days  in 
tasting  imaginary  dishes.  Sometimes  the  impressions  are  dis- 
tressing ;  they  eat  raw  flesh,  chew  arsenic,  or  devour  earth  ;  sul- 
phur and  flames  play  round  their  mouths.  Others  swallow 
nectar  and  ambrosia. f 

Hallucinations,  unaccompanied  by  one  of  these  principal  forms 
of  madness,  are  rare,  and  it  may  be  said  that,  in  this  respect, 
they  have  numerous  points  of  correspondence  with  pure  mono- 
mania. Almost  always,  in  fact,  we  notice  some  disorder  of  the 
intellect,  of  the  affections,  or  of  the  propensities,  &c.  We  will 
furnish  three  examples,  presented  by  Esquirol,  as  cases  of  simple 
hallucination.  One  of  these  subjects  expresses  himself  in  suit- 
able and  choice  terms  on  religion  and  the  miracles,  but,  during 
this  serious  conversation,  depicts  a  host  of  strange  objects. 
Another,  who  has  only  hallucinations  of  hearing,  has  a  confused 
perception  of  the  circumstances  which  surround  him,  but  does 
not  suitably  appreciate  persons,  things,  or  events.  A  third, 
after  having  written  several  pages  glowing  with  enthusiasm,  and 
exceedingly  well  arranged,  adds  that  "Jesus  Christ  is  coming." 

*  Lélut,  op.  cit. 

t  Esquirol,  Des  Maladies  Ment.  t.  i.  p.  198,  etc. 


96  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

Experience  has  proved,  witliout  question,  that  hallucinations 
may  be  manifested  in  those  who  have  no  delirium  ;  but  they  are 
one  of  the  elements  of  delirium  most  frequently  met  with  in 
mental  alienation,  in  a  certain  number  of  nervous  diseases,  in 
several  inflammatory  affections,  and  in  some  severe  fevers. 

Recapitulation. — In  hallucinations  compatible  with  reason, 
the  error  is  almost  always  acknowledged,  or,  if  it  escape  atten- 
tion, it  exercises  no  influence  on  the  conduct.  In  hallucinations 
which  have  the  characteristic  of  insanity,  the  actions,  in  an 
immense  majority  of  cases,  are  the  consequences  of  morbid  sen- 
sations, so  convinced  is  the  madman  of  their  reality. 

Of  all  hallucinations,  those  of  hearing  are  the  most  common, 
exceeding  the  others  by  about  sixty-six  per  cent.  The  weaken- 
ing, or  the  entire  privation  of  the  sense  is  no  obstacle  to  their 
production.  This  characteristic  completely  distinguishes  them 
from  illusions. 

Hallucinations  of  hearing  usually  come  from  without  ;  but 
they  sometimes  are  seated  in  the  interior  of  the  body  ;  they  are 
often  isolated  ;  they  may  be  combined  with  hallucinations  of 
sight,  and  less  frequently  with  those  of  the  other  senses. 

Hallucinations  of  sight  are  those  which  have  attracted  most 
attention.  With  these  are  associated  the  curious  phenomena  of 
visions.  In  all  times,  visionaries  have  played  an  important  part 
in  history.  These  hallucinations,  being  only  a  colored  reflection 
of  the  thoughts  habitual-  to  the  individual,  may  be  infinitely 
varied,  and  assume  as  many  forms  as  there  are  individuals. 
Their  production  does  not  depend  on  the  integrity  of  the  sense 
of  sight,  since  the  blind  are  thus  affected.  The  hallucinated  be- 
lieve they  can  see  within  their  bodies,  which  is  the  case  also  with 
those  who  are  magnetized,  and  with  somnambulists.  Hallucina- 
tions of  hearing  are  often  associated  with  those  of  sight  ;  and 
from  their  union  the  most  singular  phenomena  arise. 

Hallucinations  of  the  touch  are  less  distinct  than  the  preced- 
ing, because  they  are  often  confounded  with  neuralgic  and  vis- 
ceral illusions.  Well-attested  facts  place  this  position  beyond 
doubt. 

Hallucinations  of  smell  and  taste  come  after  the  preceding, 
with  respect  to  frequency  ;  those  of  smell  may  be  observed  at 
the  commencement  of  all  kinds  of  insanity.     These  hallucina- 


HALLUCINATIONS  OF  INSANITY  IN  ITS  SIMPLE  STATE.         97 

tions  are  scarcely  ever  isolated  ;  they  are  associated  with  others, 
and  especially  with  illusions. 

Hallucinations  without  complication  are  rare;  they  are  almost 
ahvays  linked  with  one  of  the  forms  of  madness. 

SECT.  IL— GENERAL  HALLUCINATIONS. 

Hallucinations  of  all  the  senses  combined  appear  rare.  Hal- 
lucinations of  hearing  and  of  sight  have  often  been  confounded 
with  the  illusions  of  touch,  of  taste,  and  of  smell.  Analogy  and 
reasoning,  however,  prove  that  they  may  exist  ;  and  observation 
leaves  no  doubt  on  the  matter. 

It  is  also  probable  that,  on  closely  questioning  patients,  hallu- 
cinations of  all  the  senses  may  be  proved  to  be  more  frequent 
than  they  are  believed  to  be. 

From  many  curious  facts  of  this  nature,  we  select  the  follow- 
ing :— 

Case  XXXIX.  Mademoiselle ,  forty  years  of  age,  very 

nervous,  and  consequently  very  impressible,  has  always  *been 
extremely  flighty.  In  her  youth  she  could  never  apply  herself 
to  any  serious  study,  so  that  the  doctors  recommended  her  pa- 
rents to  direct  her  attention  to  gymnastic  exercises.  This  lady 
has  not  had  any  children.  She  is  comfortably  situated  in  life, 
her  parents  in  good  health,  and  of  sound  mind  ;  but  she  has  a 
brother  whose  situation  greatly  resembles  her  own.  Her  appear- 
ance indicates  health  ;  her  hair  is  of  a  chestnut  color  ;,  she  has  a 
good  complexion,  and  is  moderately  stout. 

About  ten  years  ago,  she  felt  the  first  symptoms  of  tbe  malady 
which  now  afflicts  her.  She  saw  the  most  fantastic  personages. 
Her  visual  aberrations  did  not  prevent  her  from  attending  to 
her  occupations.  Irregular  menstruation,  thg  other  functions 
healthy.  In  six  months,  the  hallucinations,  which  until  then  had 
been  endurable,  occurring,  as  they  did,  at  prolonged  intervals, 
increased.  Sight  was  no  longer  the  only  sense  that  was  injured  ; 
all  the  other  senses  were,  by  turns,  impaired.  The  most  palpable 
derangement  was  in  the  sense  of  hearing.  She  heard  voices 
every  instant  proceeding  from  her  stomach.  These  voices  greatly 
tormented  her  ;  they  directed  all  her  actions,  and  gave  notice  of 
what  passed  within  her.  They  gave  her  information  of  her  comr 
7 


98  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

plaints  ;   and  she  could  then  prescribe  the  medicines  that  she 
appeared  to  require. 

The  voices  gave  her  very  clear  information  concerning  the 
character  and  wishes  of  different  persons,  of  whom  she  could 
reveal  very  curious  particulars.  She  would  then  express  herself 
in  much  choicer  language  than  was  her  wont  ;  but,  for  power, 
facility,  and  richness  of  expression,  she  was  indebted  to  the 
voices  within  her,  for,  when  uninfluenced  by  them,  she  spoke 
with  much  more  simplicity.  The  voices  frequently  conversed 
on  subjects  of  an  elevated  character  ;  on  geography,  grammar, 
and  rhetoric;  and  they  corrected  her  when  she  expressed  herself 
badly,  pointing  out  the  faults  she  had  committed. 

The  voices  told  her  strange  things.  One  day  they  made  her 
believe  that  she  was  possessed,  which  was  the  more  surprising 
because  she  was  not  brought  up  with  superstitious  notions.  She 
thereupon  sought  a  priest  to  exorcise  her.  Since  that  time,  her 
ideas  on  eternity  and  future  woes  have  been  distressing,  and 
throw  her  into  the  deepest  despair.  The  voices  once  revealed  to 
her  that  she  would  become  a  queen,  and  play  a  great  part  on  the 
theatre  of  the  world.  For  several  months  she  kept  this  revela- 
tion to  herself,  expecting  its  realization  ;  but,  as  this  did  not 
occur,  she  perceived  that  the  voices  had  been  deceiving  her. 

Most  generally  they  hold  the  most  singular,  whimsical,  and 
abominable  conversations  ;  she  cannot  resist  them,  except  when 
they  alter  their  tone  to  tell  her  comical  things  that  make  her 
laugh.  She  hears  them  joke  and  laugh  ;  they  then  assail  her 
more  violently  than  ever,  like  harpies,  spoiling  all  they  touch. 
If  she  wishes  to  drink  a  glass  of  sugared-watcr,  they  tell  her  the 
V(^ater  is  poisaned,  and,  for  several  hours,  she  is  in  great  terror. 
They  are  constantly  urging  her  to  drown  herself,  but  she  feels 
an  inward  resistance  to  their  promptings,  and  has  a  great  dread 
of  yielding  to  the  temptation. 

If  she  is  walking,  the  voices  cry  out  to  her,  when  a  well- 
dressed  woman  is  passing,  that  she  smells  of  musk,  of  which  she 
has  a  horror  ;  or,  if  a  gentleman  passes  her,  she  smells  tobacco, 
although  she  is  aware  that  the  smells  are  only  imaginary. 

She  frequently  has  strango  visions  ;  her  room  is  filled  with 
people  ;  figures  of  all  kinds,  and  numerous  processions,  pass  be- 
fore her  ;  or  she  sees  individuals  whoLonl^have  half  a  face^  a 
profile,   or  an  eye  ;    others,  who  are  big,  little,  deformed,  and 


HALLUCINATIONS  OF  INSANITY  IN  ITS  SIMPLE  STATE.  99 

assume  the  most  grotesque  shapes.  At  other  times  she  sees  her 
eye,  which  has  been  taken  out,  rolling  on  before  her. 

The  food  she  eats  is  infected  ;  everything  has  lost  its  natural 
flavor  ;  or  she  seems  to  swallow  vinegar,  and  Gruyère  cheese, 
Avhich  she  detests.  If  she  touches  a  dish,  the  voices  frequently 
give  it  one  of  those  flavors,  to  prevent  her  partaking  of  it. 

When  walking,  she  feels  herself  drenched  with  water  ;  the  cold 
liquid  pierces  her  through  ;  she  then  wipes  her  wet  clothes  with 
her  hands. 

This  lady  says  she  knows  that  these  voices  proceed  from  a 
nervous  affection  ;  but  they  are  too  powerful  for  her  judgment  ; 
they  overpower  and  rule  it.  So  great  is  their  power,  that  they 
oblige  her  to  go  wherever  they  wish  ;  they  told  her,  some  months 
since,  to  go  to  Paris,  and  consult  some  celebrated  physicians. 
She  long  resisted  this  prompting,  because  she  believed  such  a 
course  to  be  useless  ;  finally,  she  came  to  Professor  Fouquier, 
who  recommended  blistering,  and  means  which  could  only  have 
an  injurious  efl"ect.  She  required  warm  and  cold  baths,  and 
plenty  of  good  Bordeaux  wine.  Yesterday,  the  voices  told  her 
to  go  to  Bercy  for  some  wine.  Having  traversed  Paris  to  reach 
the  place,  the  voices  told  her  that  the  wine  was  good  for  nothing. 

The  voices  desired  her  to  take  a  bath,  promising  to  be  quiet  ; 
but,  no  sooner  had  she  entered  it,  than  they  set  up  such  a  deafen- 
ing uproar  that  she  was  obliged  instantly  to  leave  it. 

They  will  no  longer  let  her  speak  ;  they  confuse  her  ideas  ; 
she  finds  it  difiScult  to  express  herself.  In  fact,  she  stammers, 
repeats  her  words,  and  hesitates  ;  but  she  knows  her  condition  ; 
and,  in  order  to  counteract  the  influence  of  the  voices,  she  fixes 
her  eyes  on  those  to  whom  she  would  speak,  in  order  that  they 
may  read  there  what  she  cannot  clearly  express. 

She  is  often  aware  that  the  voices  make  her  act  unreasonably; 
she  tries  to  oppose  their  wishes,  but  they  persist,  and  force  her 
obedience  ;  their  power  is  irresistible. 

This  lady,  who  was  introduced  to  us  by  M.  Fouquier,  wished 
to  enter  our  asylum,  in  order  that  the  physicians  should  study 
her  case,  and  open  her  body  after  death. 

However,  "  she  knows  that  her  body,  as  well  as  her  brain,  is 
full  of  air  ;  and,  for  fifteen  years,  her  spinal  marrow  has  been 
dried  up  and  destroyed."  After  this  information,  she  adds  :  "I 
know  that  my  case  is  one  of  real  monomania  ;  but  the  voices  are 


100  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

stronger  than  my  will.  I  know  that  everything  will  terminate 
badly  ;  but  I  wish  to  be  under  treatment  ;  it  is  impossible  for  me 
to  remain  quiet." 

What  curious  reflections  are  suggested  by  this  remarkable 
case  !  Here  the  senses  are  first  all  disordered,  then  the  mind  ; 
there  is  a  struggle  between  the  intellect  and  the  revolted  senses; 
a  momentary  consciousness  that  all  is  illusion  ;  then  comes  the 
triumph  of  these  same  senses  over  reason — overpowering  the  will, 
that  vainly  combats  the  impelling  force.  Is  there,  in  fact,  a  sight 
more  deserving  philosophical  study  than  the  case  presented  by 
this  woman,  who,  knowing  that  her  senses  mislead  her,  and  that 
she  is  the  sport  of  fancies,  yet  cannot  escape  their  influence  ? 

Constantly  deceived,  and  certain  that  she  always  will  be  de- 
ceived, still,  she  is  not  less  obedient  to  the  voices  that  direct  her  ; 
and  goes  wheresoever  they  command. 

This  novel  manifestation  of  the  principle  of  duality,  by  virtue 
of  which  this  afflicted  person,  borne  down  by  railleries,  jokes, 
menaces,  and  horrible  proposals,  and  ready  to  yield  to  despair, 
suddenly  finds  herself  consoled  by  kind  and  encouraging  words,  is 
a  psychological  fact,  which  deserves  the  attention  of  the  faculty. 
It  would  seem  as  though  a  good  and  a  bad  spirit  were  each  draw- 
ing her  to  itself.  During  ten  years  that  she  has  been  in  this 
pathological  condition,  she  has  not  ceased  to  attend  to  her  affairs  : 
she  directs  the  management  of  her  property,  attends  to  all  the 
duties  of  social  life  ;  and,  although,  for  the  space  of  six  years, 
her  false  impressions  have  not  left  her  a  moment  of  peace,  her 
habits  are  unchanged,  though  she  appears  to  know  intuitively 
that  her  reason  is  about  to  fail,  and  seeks  consolation  in  the 
advice  which  she  cannot  follow. 

This  lady's  case  is  no  less  interesting  as  regards  legal  medi- 
cine and  civil  law.  The  hallucination  that  torments  her,  and 
the  falsity  of  which  she  almost  always  acknowledges,  but  to  which 
she  is  obliged  to  yield,  because  its  power  is  stronger  than  her 
Avill,  leads  her  to  actions  which  have  no  definite  aim.  The  voices 
tempt  her  to  commit  suicide,  and  inspire  her  with  many  other 
ideas,  to  which,  being  driven  beyond  resistance,  she  is  forced  to 
yield.  This  is  quite  a  new  fact  in  the  psychological  history  of 
man  ;  it  gives  the  key  to  a  number  of  actions  and  oddities,  which, 
from  the  known  character  and  manners  of  the  parties,  are  other- 
wise inexplicable.     The  greater  our  range  of  observation  has  ex- 


HALLUCINATIONS  OF  INSANITY  IN  ITS  SIMPLE  STATE.        101 

tended,  the  more  have  we  become  convinced  that  the  world  con- 
tains many  madmen,  who,  from  some  reason  or  another,  have 
never  sought  medical  relief,  and  whose  derangement  of  mind  has 
never  been  noticed  by  those  about  them.  Well,  these  individuals 
quarrel,  provoke  duels,  insult,  strike,  assassinate,  or  commit  sui- 
cide, because  they  have  obeyed  voices,  commands,  and  impulses, 
which  they  cannot  resist. 

Among  the  numerous  cases  that  I  have  collected,  the  following 
appears,  for  several  reasons,  to  be  interesting  : — 

Case  XL.  A  rich  man  lived  alone  in  a  large  house  that  be- 
longed to  him.  His  style  of  living  was  not  at  all  suitable  to  the 
fortune  that  he  was  known  to  possess.  He  dressed  almost  in 
rags,  and  lived  in  the  most  parsimonious  manner.  No  one  was 
allowed  to  enter  his  house.  However  strange  his  conduct,  he 
did  nothing  worthy  of  blame,  and  the  world  was  left  to  its  con- 
jectures. Information  was  at  length  obtained  that  his  resources 
were  exhausted,  and  that  he  owed  heavy  sums  on  his  house.  He 
was  finally  obliged  to  sell  it.  His  ruin  was  a  mystery.  Misan- 
thropical and  taciturn,  he  shunned  all  questions. 

The  circumstance  was  forgotten,  when,  one  day,  the  poor 
wretch  presented  himself  to  the  new  proprietor;  he  was  pale  and 
agitated,  but  his  eyes  shone  with  a  strange  brilliancy.  "  Sir," 
said  he,  "  I  know  where  the  gold  that  I  possessed  is,  and  where 
the  fortune  is  that  I  have  lost.  A  voice  revealed  to  me  that  a 
misfortune  would  take  all  from  me,  and  reduce  me  to  misery  ; 
and  that,  to  avoid  this  catastrophe,  I  must  conceal  my  riches.  I 
followed  the  advice.  Income,  furniture,  house,  all  was  converted 
into  gold,  and  buried  in  a  place  unknown  to  any  one.  Then  I 
no  longer  heard  the  voice.  My  head  became  a  chaos  of  ideas  ; 
I  had  only  a  glimmering  light  now  and  then.  This  morning  I 
heard  the  voice  again  :  'You  are  ignorant,'  it  said,  'where  your 
gold  is,  but  I  will  tell  you.  By  my  advice  you  threw  it  into  the 
well.'  Pray,  sir,  have  search  made  ;  all  my  riches  are  there." 
They  attempted  to  console  him  ;  promised  to  do  what  he  desired  ; 
but  it  would  require  time  and  workmen.  They  made  him  com- 
prehend that  such  an  operation  required  preparations  that  could 
not  be  done  in  a  hurry.  He  retired.  In  a  few  days  he  returned 
to  inquire  the  result  of  the  search.  He  was  told  that  they  had 
found  nothing  !  !  !     He  sighed  deeply,  pronounced  a  few  inco- 


102  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

herent  words,  and  in  a  few  days  unquestionable  insanity  put  an 
end  to  his  useless  regrets. 

It  may  be  asked  whether,  in  the  state  of  mind  in  which  the 
patient  was  whose  history  we  have  related,  he  was  capable  of 
making  a  will. 

This  is  a  very  diflBcult  question  ;  but  its  solution  is  not  an  im- 
possibility. When  the  conduct  of  the  individual  does  not  depart 
from  received  usages,  when  it  is  not  controlled  by  one  of  those 
false  ideas  that  make  him  hate  his  relatives  and  friends  without 
any  motive,  and  when  he  regulates  his  expenses  prudently,  we 
do  not  think  that  whimsical  actions,  or  words,  the  results  of  an 
erroneous  belief,  but  having  no  influence  on  the  prominent  acts 
of  his  life,  should  deprive  a  person  of  his  civil  liberties,  and  the 
power  of  making  his  will.  We  will  return  to  this  subject  when 
we  examine  hallucinations  in  a  medico-legal  point  of  view. 

Recapitulation. — Hallucinations  of  all  the  senses  are  more 
rare  than  hallucinations  of  one,  two,  or  three  of  the  senses. 

Hallucinations  sometimes  occur  alone,  but,  more  generally, 
they  are  combined  with  illusions,  or  with  some  of  the  forms  of 
madness. 

The  characteristics  of  madness,  already  appreciable  in  simply 
isolated  hallucinations,  are  more  marked  in  general  hallucinations. 

In  isolated  and  general  hallucinations  may  be  found  the  ex- 
planation of  many  incomprehensible  actions. 

General  hallucinations  would  be  a  powerful  argument  in  favor 
of  Berkeley's  hypothesis,  if  a  pathological  state  could  serve  to 
establish  a  physiological  principle. 

Hallucinations  of  all  the  senses  might  appear  to  be  more  fre- 
quently exhibited,  if  they  were  not  often  mistaken  for  illusions 
of  sight,  of  hearing,  and  of  touch. 


CHAPTER    IV. 

ON  HALLUCINATIONS  AS  CONNECTED  WITH  ILLUSIONS. 

Frequency  of  illusions — Opinions  relative  to  the  errors  of  the  senses — Charac- 
teristics by  which  illusions  and  hallucinations  are  distinguished — Opinions  of 
MM.  Calmeil,  Aubanel,  and  Dechambre  ;  their  concurrence — Peculiar  charac- 
teristics of  illusions — Internal  hallucinations  allied  with  sensations  of  hypo- 
chondriacs— Illusions  are  observed  both  in  a  healthy  and  a  morbid  state — 
Illusions  of  hearing  and  of  sight — Causes — Illusions  of  sight  sometimes  epi- 
demic— Aerial  illusions — Causes  of  public  illusions — Illusions  of  hearing — 
Motives  for  the  chapter — Illusions  may  precede,  accompany,  or  succeed 
hallucinations — Illusions  may  be  isolated  or  general — Illusions  very  capricious — 
Illusions,  like  hallucinations,  may  induce  the  commission  of  reprehensible  acts — 
Illusions  of  the  touch,  of  the  smell,  of  the  taste — Their  influence  on  the  con- 
duct of  madmen — Illusions  almost  always  accompany  hallucinations — Reca- 
pitulalion. 

Nothing  is  more  common  with  the  insane,  and  especially  with 
maniacs,  than  to  mistake  one  person  for  another,  and  to  take  an 
object  for  what  it  is  not.  Such  mistakes  are  frequent  ;  so  that 
the  story  of  a  windmill  metamorphosed  into  a  giant  is  a  tale 
appropriate  for  all  times.  These  errors  of  the  senses  are  not 
confined  to  the  deranged.  They  exist  equally  among  men  of 
the  most  healthy  minds  ;  but  judgment  and  experience  correct 
their  false  notions.  In  the  eighteenth  century,  it  was  established 
in  the  schools  of  philosophy  that  our  senses  deceive  us,  and  that 
we  cannot  place  any  reliance  upon  them. 

It  requires,  however,  but  little  reflection  to  convince  us  that 
the  senses  faithfully  report  all  that  makes  an  impression  on  them. 
Their  office  is  to  tell  us  that  there  exists  such  and  such  a  cause 
in  the  body,  such  or  such  a  quality  that  produces  in  us  such  or 
such  a  sensation,  but  not  to  tell  us  the  nature  of  that  cause  or 
that  quality.  Thus  the  only  proper  object  of  sight  is  the  colored 
expanse.     In  seeking  to  arrive  at  a  knowledge  of  the  form  and 


104  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

distance  of  objects,*  we  form  a  conjectural  judgment.  This 
judgment,  in  itself,  no  more  forms  a  part  of  the  evidence  of  the 
sense  of  sight,  than  the  judgments  -which  we  form  relative  to 
sounds  that  the  ear  hears,  and  in  relation  to  the  nature  and  dis- 
tance of  sonorous  bodies  whence  those  sounds  emanate,  form  a 
part  of  the  testimony  of  the  sense  of  hearing.  Thus,  to  speak 
correctly,  our  senses  never  deceive  us  ;  but  we  deceive  ourselves 
through  the  judgments  we  form  concerning  the  testimony  of  our 
senses. 

When  Esquirol  published  his  Mémoires  siir  les  Illusions,  he 
pointed  out  wherein  illusions  differ  from  hallucinations.  The 
characteristic,  which  appears  to  us  the  most  decisive,  is  the  ab- 
sence of  an  exterior  body  in  hallucinations  ;  whilst  illusions  re- 
quire a  tangible  basis.  A  man  declares  that  you  are  a  cat,  or 
Napoleon,  or  a  well-known  orator;  he  sees  fighting  armies  in  the 
clouds — angels  Who  blow  the  trumpet  ;  that  man  is  a  visionary. 
But  if,  in  the  quiet  of  night,  he  hears  voices  addressing  him  ;  if, 
in  the  most  intense  darkness,  he  sees  persons  that  none  but  him- 
self can  perceive,  he  is  hallucinated.  The  privation  of  the 
sense  of  sight  or  hearing  presents  no  impediment  to  halluci- 
nation, whilst  it  is  an  obstacle  to  illusion. 

M.  Dechambre  does  not  consider  that  any  argument  has  been 
adduced  sufficiently  conclusive  to  justify  Esquirol's  distinction 
between  hallucinations  and  illusions.  He  says  that  the  halluci- 
nist  who  hears  a  voice  speaking  to  him,  and  the  visionary  who 
thinks  the  friend  standing  before  him  is  an  ox  or  a  horned  devil, 
belong  to  the  same  category.  With  the  one,  as  with  the  other, 
the  brain  is  diseased — not  the  organ  of  sight  or  hearing.f 

There  is  no  doubt  that  the  lesion  that  produces  these  two 
morbid  phenomena  exists  in  the  brain  ;  but  it  may  be  said  that 
their  progress  is  inverse — for,  whilst  hallucination  seems  to  start 
from  the  nerve  to  form  an  outward  image,  illusion  follows  a  di- 
rectly contrary  course  ;  so  that  the  one  may  be  said  to  be  sub- 
jective, the  other  objective. 

Observation,  it  is  true,  points  out  the  fact  that  illusions  fre- 
quently coexist  with  hallucinations;  that  the  two  become  blended; 
and  that  it  is  often  difficult  to  distinguish  them  ;  but  all  these 

*  Œuvres  philosophique  de  P.  Buffier,  avec  les  notes  par  M.  Francisque 
Boullier,  introduction,  p.  53,  Paris,  1843:  Coll.  charpentier. 

t  Gaz.  Med.,  April  G,  1850:  Analyze  De  l'ouvrage  de  M.  Szafkowski. 


HALLUCINATIONS  AS  CONNECTED  WITH  ILLUSIONS.  105 

arguments  have  been  produced  against  the  present  classification 
of  the  forms  of  madness  ;  yet  there  is  no  author  who  does  not 
acknowledge  the  necessity  of  describing  them  separately.  In 
view  of  these  considerations,  and  especially  the  existence  of  an 
object  in  illusions,  we  have  persisted  in  considering  the  two 
phenomena  as  distinct;  notwithstanding  the  contrary  opinion  is 
held  by  very  competent  men,  Messrs.  Calmeil,  Aubanel,  and 
several  others.  Moreover,  in  the  two  cases,  the  psychological 
phenomena  appear  to  us  to  differ  ;  and  in  regard  both  to  their 
prognosis  and  treatment,  we  think,  with  M.  Michéa,  that  hallu- 
cinations should  be  distinguished  from  illusions.  For  similar 
reasons,  we  connect  with  illusions  all  those  false  sensations 
which  proceed  from  the  disease  of  an  internal  organ,  as  the 
stomach,  the  intestines,  &c.,  and  all  the  sensations  peculiar  to 
hypochondriacs,  whose  hallucinations  depend  on  some  internal 
derangement. 

Illusions  occur  frequently  in  a  healthy  condition  ;  they  are 
easily  corrected  by  reason.  It  is  needless  to  repeat  the  examples 
so  often  cited  in  which  a  square  tower  appears  round — in  which 
the  shore  appears  to  recede.  These  facts  have  long  been  pro- 
perly appreciated  :  but  there  are  illusions  which  the  progress  of 
science  has  only  lately  developed  ;  such  as  the  giant  of  the 
Brocken,  the  fairy  Morgana,  and  the  Mirage. 

At  certain  times,  the  giant  was  seen  on  the  summit  of  the 
Brocken  (one  of  the  Hartz  Mountains),  to  the  great  astonishment 
of  the  inhabitants  and  travellers.  For  many  years,  this  prodigy 
had  given  occasion  to  the  most  wonderful  tales,  when  Mr.  Haue 
had  the  curiosity  to  examine  into  the  cause,  which  he  was  for- 
tunate enough  to  discover.  Whilst  gazing  on  the  giant,  a  violent 
gust  of  wind  almost  carried  away  his  hat  ;  he  quickly  raised  his 
hand,  and  the  giant  likewise  raised  his  hand  ;  he  bowed,  and  his 
bow  was  returned.  Mr.  Haue  summoned  the  master  of  the  inn 
at  the  Brocken  to  witness  his  discovery.  The  experiment  was 
repeated  with  similar  results.  The  wonder  was  then  explained. 
It  was  nothing  but  the  effect  of  light  produced  by  an  object 
highly  illuminated  and  surrounded  by  light  clouds,  which  object, 
being  reflected  at  a  greater  or  less  distance,  was  extended  by 
an  optical  illusion  to  the  height  of  five  or  six  hundred  feet.* 

*  Philosophical  Magazine,  vol.  i.  p.  232. 


106  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

The  interesting  little  work  by  Brewster,  whicli  we  have  already 
mentioned,  may  be  consulted  on  this  subject.  A  similar  illusion 
has  been  noticed  in  Westmoreland,  and  other  mountainous  coun- 
tries, where  troops  of  cavaliers  and  armies  appeared  to  be  march- 
ing and  countermarching,  though  they  were,  in  fact,  only  the 
reflection  of  horses  grazing  on  an  opposite  hill,  or  of  peaceable 
travellers. 

.  Many  circumstances  may  give  rise  to  illusions.  Ignorance 
chiefly  induces  them.  Certain  countries,  several  provinces  in 
France,  and  many  estates,  abound  with  traditions  which  have 
arisen  from  illusions  of  sight. 

A  vivid  impression,  the  recollection  of  an  event  that  has  caused 
great  excitement,  may,  through  an  association  of  ideas,  give  rise 
to  an  illusion. 

"  I  was  in  Paris,"  says  M.  Wigan,  "  at  a  soiree  given  by  M. 
Bellart,  some  days  after  the  execution  of  the  Prince  of  Moskowa. 
The  usher,  hearing  the  name  of  M.  Maréchal  aine  (the  elder),  an- 
nounced M.  le  Maréchal  Ney.  An  electric  shudder  ran  through 
the  assembly,  and,  for  my  part,  I  own  that  the  resemblance  to 
the  prince  was  for  a  moment  as  perfect  to  my  eyes  as  reality."* 

Fear,  remorse,  and  obscurity  are  very  favorable  to  illusions. 
To  these  various  causes  may  be  traced  apparitions  linked  with 
some  object,  such  as  the  folds  of  a  drapery,  or  a  curtain,  or  those 
occasioned  by  the  situation  of  a  piece  of  furniture,  when  combined 
with  the  efl"ect  of  a  pale  or  doubtful  light. 

When  the  mind  is  thus  prepared,  the  most  familiar  objects  are 
transformed  into  phantoms.  Ellis  relates  an  anecdote  of  this 
kind  that  happened  to  the  captain  of  a  vessel  at  Newcastle-on- 
Tyne,  and  which  he  heard  from  an  eye-witness. 

Case  XLI.  During  the  voyage,  the  cook  of  the  vessel  died. 
Some  days  after  his  funeral,  the  second  mate  ran  to  the  captain 
in  a  great  fright,  to  tell  him  that  the  cook  was  walking  ahead  of 
the  vessel,  and  all  the  crew  were  on  the  deck  to  look  at  him. 
The  captain,  annoyed  at  being  disturbed  on  account  of  such  a 
circumstance,  gave  orders  to  steer  the  ship  towards  Newcastle, 
that  they  might  see  which  would  first  get  into  port  ;  but,  tor- 

*  Op.  cit.,  p.  56.  On  this  interesting  subject,  see  Les  Récits  de  la  Muse 
Populaire,  de  M.  Em.  Souvestre  (Revue  des  deux  Mondes,  p.  711,  t.  iv. 
1830)  ;  and  les  Légendes  du  Nord,  by  M.  Marraier. 


HALLUCINATIONS  AS  CONNECTED  WITH  ILLUSIONS.  107 

mented  again,  he  frankly  owned  that  he  had  caught  the  infection. 
In  looking  towards  the  spot  pointed  out,  he  perceived  a  human 
form,  whose  gait  was  like  that  of  his  old  friend,  and  who  was 
dressed  like  him.  The  panic  became  general  ;  every  one  was 
motionless.  Obliged  to  work  the  ship  himself,  he  perceived  that 
the  cause  of  all  their  absurd  terror  was  a  fragment  of  the  top  of 
a  mast,  from  some  wreck,  that  floated  on  before  them.  Had  he 
not  approached  the  pretended  ghost,  the  tale  of  the  cook  walking 
the  water  would  long  have  circulated  amongst  the  good  folks  of 
Newcastle,  and  excited  their  terror.* 

Many  are  the  facts  of  this  nature.  "We  give  several  that 
explain  a  multitude  of  narratives  in  different  authors. 

Ajax  was  so  enraged  that  the  arms  of  Achilles  were  awarded 
to  Ulysses  that  he  went  distracted.  Seeing  a  herd  of  swine,  he 
drew  his  sword  and  furiously  assailed  them,  taking  them  for 
Greeks.  He  seized  two  of  them,  flogged  them  soundly,  and 
loaded  them  with  abuse,  for  he  imagined  that  one  was  his  judge, 
Agamemnon,  and  the  other  his  enemy  Ulysses.  On  recovering, 
he  was  so  ashamed  of  his  act  that  he  stabbed  himself,  f 

King  Theodoric,  blinded  by  jealousy,  and  yielding  to  the  per- 
fidious suggestions  of  his  courtiers,  put  to  death  the  senator  Sym- 
machus,  one  of  the  most  virtuous  men  of  his  time.  Scarcely  was 
the  cruel  deed  done  than  the  king  was  overwhelmed  with  remorse, 
and  incessantly  reproached  himself  with  his  crime.  One  day  a 
new  kind  of  fish  was  brought  on  his  table  ;  suddenly  he  uttered 
a  cry  of  horror,  for  he  saw  in  the  head  of  the  fish  that  of  the 
unfortunate  Symmachus.  This  vision  threw  him  into  a  profound 
melancholy,  from  which  he  never  recovered. | 

Bessus,  surrounded  with  guests,  and  deeply  absorbed  in  the 
pleasures  of  a  banquet,  suddenly  becomes  heedless  of  his  flatter- 
ers. He  listens  attentively  to  a  discourse  that  no  one  hears  ; 
then,  transported  with  rage,  springs  up,  seizes  his  sword,  and 
rushing  to  a  nest  of  swallows,  strikes  at  the  poor  birds,  and  kills 
them.     "Think,"  says  he,  "  of  the  insolence  of  these  birds;  who 

*  HiVjbert,  Sketches  of  the  Philosophy  of  Apparitions,  p.  16. 

f  Traité  de  l'Apparition  des  Esprits,  par  Taillepied,  docteur  en  théo- 
logie, Rouen,  1009.  This  work  is  only  a  disguised  translation  of  a  work 
by  Lavater,  entitled  Ludovico  Lavateri  Tlteologia  eximii,  De  Spectris  Lernu- 
rihus,  etc.  Lugdani  Bat.,  ann.  1570,  2d  edit.,  1659. 

J  Procopius,  De  bello  Italico. 


108  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

dare  reproach  me  with  the  murder  of  my  father!"  The  courtiers 
•withdraw  in  astonishment,  and  soon  afterwards  they  learn  that 
Bessus  is  really  guilty,  and  that  his  action  was  only  the  result 
of  an  appealing  conscience.* 

Illusions  of  sight  and  hearing  have  often  assumed  the  form  of 
an  epidemic.  History  records  a  number  of  facts  of  this  charac- 
ter. One  of  the  chief  is  the  transformation  of  clouds  into  armies, 
and  all  sorts  of  figures  ;  to  which  religious  belief,  optical  pheno- 
mena, physical  laws  then  unknown,  high  fevers  of  a  pestilential 
character,  and  the  derangement  of  the  brain,  all  give  a  very 
natural  explanation. 

Pausanias  relates,  in  his  Attics,  that,  four  hundred  years  after 
the  battle  of  Marathon,  the  neighing  of  horses  and  the  shock  of 
armies  were  nightly  heard  on  the  spot.  All  the  curious  did  not 
hear  the  noise,  while  those  who  traversed  the  plain  unpremedi- 
tatedly,  heard  it  perfectly. f 

At  the  battle  of  Platsea,  the  air  resounded  with  a  fearful  cry, 
which  the  Athenians  attributed  to  the  God  Pan  ;  the  Persians 
were  so  alarmed  that  they  fled.  It  is  said  that  this  is  the  origin 
of  the  expression  panic-fear. 

Pliny  says  that  during  the  war  of  the  Romans  against  the 
Cimbrians,  they  wxre,  on  several  occasions,  alarmed  by  the  clang 
of  arms  and  the  sound  of  trumpets,  which  appeared  to  come  from 
the  sky.  Appian  speaks  of  the  cries  of  men  in  terror,  of  the 
clash  of  arms,  and  the  tread  of  horses.  Plutarch,  in  his  life  of 
Coriolanus,  states  that,  in  the  fight  against  ïarquin,  Castor  and 
Pollux  were  seen  on  white  horses,  valiantly  fighting  in  front  of 
the  battle.  They  carried  instantaneously  to  Rome  the  news  of 
the  victory. 

"Shortly  before  the  feast  of  Easter,  on  the  27th  of  May,  an 
event  happened,"  says  Flavius  Josephus,  "that  I  should  fear  to 
repeat,  lest  it  might  be  considered  fabulous,  were  it  not  that  per- 
sons are  still  living  who  witnessed  it  ;  and  the  misfortunes  that 
followed  confirmed  its  truth.  Before  sunrise,  there  appeared  in 
the  air,  throughout  the  whole  country,  chariots  full  of  armed 
men,  traversing  the  clouds  and  spreading  round  the  cities,  as  if 
to  inclose  them.     On  the  day  of  Pentecost,  the  priests,  being  at 

*  Plutarchus,  De  Sera  numinis  vindicta. 
t  Pausanias,  in  Attic. — Taillepicd,  op.  cit. 


HALLUCINATIONS  AS  CONNECTED  WITH  ILLUSIONS.  109 

night  in  the  inner  temple  to  celebrate  divine  service,  heard  a 
noise,  and  afterwards  a  voice  that  repeated  several  times,  '■Let 
us  go  out  from  hence'  "* 

M.  Calmeil,  in  his  article  in  the  Dictionary  on  "  Hallucina- 
tion," has  cited  similar  facts  drawn  from  Josephus  and  the  his- 
tory of  the  Lower  Empire.  Antiochus  was  preparing  to  carry 
war  the  second  time  into  Egypt  ;  in  the  sky  appeared  men  dressed 
in  cloth  of  gold,  armed  with  lances,  galloping  like  squadrons 
about  to  charge  ;  even  their  casques,  bucklers,  naked  swords,  and 
lances  could  be  distinguished. 

History  abounds  in  similar  tales.  Thus,  in  the  time  of  Charle- 
magne, phalanxes  of  sorcerers  were  seen  fighting  in  the  air; 
afterward  they  were  fantastic  beings,  shouting  in  the  temples; 
sublime,  solitary  voices,  heard  as  in  the  first  ages  of  the  world. f 

In  the  reign  of  Charles  the  Sixth,  battles  appeared  to  be  going 
on  at  different  times  in  the  clouds;  armed  knights  encountered 
one  another,  and  the  sky  was  the  color  of  blood-l 

An  Italian  author  relates  that  the  Florentines  were  for  several 
hours  duped  by  an  illusion  of  this  nature.  Collected  in  the 
principal  streets  of  the  city,  they  watched  attentively  the  figure 
of  an  angel  floating  in  the  air,  and  were  expecting  some  miracle 
to  be  performed,  when  it  was  discovered  that  the  illusion  was 
caused  by  a  cloud  that  covered  the  dome,  and  on  which  was  re- 
flected the  figure  of  the  golden  angel  that  surmounted  the  edi- 
fice, completely  lighted  up  by  the  sun's  rays.§ 

The  period  of  the  Crusades  was  especially  remarkable  for  a 
multitude  of  apparitions. 

At  the  battle  of  Antioch,  in  the  thickest  of  the  fight,  the  Cru- 
saders saw  St.  George,  St.  Demetrius,  and  St.  Theodosius  come 
to  their  aid.||  We  read,  in  M.  Thierry's  history,  that  in  the  at- 
tack on  the  Temple  of  Delphos  by  the  Gauls,  these  barbarians 
were  frightened  by  the  apparition  of  three  shrouded  heroes  in 
the  environs  of  the  city.     The  Delphians  recognized,  it  is  said, 

*  War  of  the  Jews  against  the  Romans,  liv.  vi.  chap.  xxi. 
t  Ferdinand  Denis,  la  Monde  enchanté. 

X  Chronique  du  Religieux  de  St.  Denis,  Collection  des  Mémoires  relatifs 
à  l'histoire  de  Fi-ance. 
^  Ferrier,  op.  cit. 
Il  Michaud,  Histoire  des  Croisades,  t.  i. 


110  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

the  shades  of  Hyporochus,  of  Laodocus,  and  of  Pyrrhus,  the  son 
of  Achilles.* 

When  we  consider  hallucinations  in  an  historical  point  of  view, 
we  will  return  to  this  subject. 

The  popular  imagination,  dreaming  only  of  battles,  had  seen 
in  the  air  the  appearances  of  war  ;  nature  had  associated  itself 
with  the  interests,  the  enthusiasm,  and  the  passions  of  men. 
Everything  harmonized  with  the  universal  sentiment  ;  and,  in 
order  that  the  past  should,  as  it  were,  unite  in  the  feeling  of  the 
times,  the  tomb  had  permitted  the  illustrious  dead  to  mingle  with 
the  living.  In  these  marvellous  visions,  we  recognize  all  the 
sublimity  of  the  epopee. 

The  Christians  of  this  period  persuaded  themselves  that  the 
apparitions  of  the  Old  and  of  the  New  Testament  were  repro- 
duced for  them  ;  and  this  belief  was  the  more  allowable  and 
plausible,  since  the  circumstances  occurred  in  the  country  where 
all  these  prodigies  were  originally  accomplished. f 

"A  powerful  belief,"  said  Walter  Scott,  "has  frequently  per- 
formed on  the  battle-plain  what  had  been  seen  in  darkness  and 
solitude.  Those  who  were  on  the  borders  of  the  spirit-world,  or 
werç  engaged  in  sending  their  fellows  into  those  regions  of  dark- 
ness, believed  they  saw  the  apparitions  of  those  whom  their  reli- 
gion associated  with  such  scenes.  It  is  not  surprising  that,  in 
the  midst  of  a  doubtful  battle,  of  violence,  of  noise  and  confusion 
inseparable  from  such  a  situation,  the  warriors  should  think  they 
beheld  gods  and  saints." 

It  may,  perhaps,  be  asked  how  a  considerable  number  of  men 
could  be  dupes  of  the  same  illusion.  Independently  of  the  rea- 
sons we  have  given,  and  amongst  which  ignorance,  fear,  super- 
stition, and  disease  play  an  important  part,  the  contagious  influ- 
ence of  example  must  not  be  forgotten.  One  cry  is  enough  to 
frighten  a  large  assembly.  One  individual,  who  imagines  he  has 
seen  supernatural  appearances,  would  hasten  to  impart  his  con- 
viction to  those  not  more  enlightened  than  himself.  The  anec- 
dote of  the  man  who  exclaimed,  whilst  gazing  on  a  statue,  that 
it  bowed  its  head,  has  often  been  quoted.  All  those  who  were 
present  affirmed  that  they  saw  it  move.  Another  reason  is  the 
utility  to  which  the  leading  men  in  the  state  turned  these  be- 

*  Histoire  des  Gaulois,  t.  i.  p.  174. — Pausanias,  t.  x.  p.  430. 
t  Michaud,  Histoire  des  Croisades. 


HALLUCINATIONS  AS  CONNECTED  WITH  ILLUSIONS.  Ill 

liefs  ;  and  it  is  unquestionable  that  in  many  instances  they  were 
the  result  of  artifice.  In  traversing  the  ruins  of  Hadrian's  Villa, 
in  the  environs  of  Tivoli,  we  noticed,  in  the  temple  of  Canope, 
the  remains  of  long  tubes  which  served  to  give  voice  to  the  ora- 
cle. Eusebius  Salverte  has  demonstrated,  in  a  work  the  doc- 
trines of  which  we  in  nowise  share,  that  the  ancients  knew  how 
to  raise  spirits,  and  to  produce  phantasmagorical  effects.* 

Illusions  of  hearing  have  created  a  thousand  popular  stories. 
One  of  the  best  known  in  Ireland  is  that  of  St.  Patrick's  Hole. 
The  murmuring  of  the  wind  became  the  voices  of  complaining 
souls,  who  entreated  the  prayers  of  the  living  ;  tombs,  grottos, 
and  caverns  were  spots  that  served  for  the  resort  of  spirits.  In 
traversing  battle-fields,  the  sighs  of  warriors  were  heard  who 
fell  in  combat. 

We  have  somewhat  dilated  on  illusions,  in  order  to  show  the 
difference  between  them  and  hallucinations  ;  but  in  admitting  this 
line  of  division,  we  have  thought  that,  by^  reason  of  the  frequent 
union  of  the  two,  it  was  necessary  to  give  a  general  idea  of  them. 
Thus,  when  we  shall  speak  of  the  etiology  of  hallucinations,  we 
shall  often  be  obliged  to  refer  to  that  of  illusions. 

One  distinction,  pointed  out  by  several  authors,  must  not  be 
lost  sight  of  ;  that  is,  Ave  must  not  confound  false  inductions  Avith 
illusions.  A  delirious  conception  is  not,  in  fact,  a  sensorial  illu- 
sion. "To  have  a  sensorial  illusion,"  says  M.  Michea,  "is  not  to 
make  a  false  judgment  on  a  clear  perception,  but  to  perceive 
viciously  a  false  impression." 

Sometimes  illusion  appears  first,  and  is  secondarily  replaced 
by  hallucination.  It  may  be  united  with,  or  may  succeed  it  ;  it 
can  also  exist  alone. 

Case  XLII.  Dr.  Martin,  Superintendent  of  Antiquaille,  com- 
municated the  following  fact  to  M.  Bottex  :  A  man,  fifty-two 
years  of  age,  of  a  plethoric  constitution,  after  having  experienced 
a  defect  in  the  visual  organs,  so  that  objects  were  represented 
sometimes  double,  sometimes  reversed,  soon  perceived  symptoms 
of  a  congestion  of  the  brain,  which  caused  fear  of  apoplexy. 
Three  copious  bloodlettings  in  the  arm,  and  an  application  of 
leeches  to  the  anus  relieved  the  congestion  ;  but  he  afterwards 
experienced  a  singular  hallucination,  accompanied  by  squinting. 

*  Eusebe  Salverte,  Des  sciences  occultes,  2d  edit.  Paris,  1843, 1  vol.  in  8vo. 


112  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

His  ej^elids  contracted,  and  tlie  globe  of  liis  eyes  turned  from 
right  to  left  at  irregular  intervals  ;  at  Avhich  times  lie  imagined 
he  saw  objects  or  persons  which  he  appeared  to  follow  with  his 
eyes  into  the  dining-room  or  kitchen;  places  entirely  separated 
from  the  chamber  where  he  lay.  This  patient,  who  comprehend- 
ed that  it  was  a  false  perception,  died  under  another  attack  of 
apoplexy. 

This  case  points  out  the  transition  from  illusion  to  hallucina- 
tion. 

Illusion,  as  well  as  hallucination,  may  be  recognized  as  false  ; 
but,  as  the  malady  progresses,  it  is  considered  real. 

Case  XLIII.  Towards  the  close  of  1835,  Madame  N.,  laun- 
dress, distressed  by  violent  rheumatic  pains,  quitted  her  business 
and  took  to  sewing.  Little  accustomed  to  such  work,  she  fre- 
quently passed  part  of  the  night  in  providing  for  her  wants; 
nevertheless,  she  fell  into  extreme  poverty,  and  was  seized  with 
a  severe  ophthalmia,  which  soon  became  chronic.  As  she  con- 
tinued to  sew,  she  saw  four  hands,  four  needles,  and  four  seams; 
she  had  a  double-double  vision,  in  consequence  of  a  slight  diverg- 
ence in  the  visual  axis.  At  first,  Madame  N.  accounted  for  this 
phenomenon  ;  but,  at  the  close  of  some  days,  becoming  still 
poorer,  and  a  powerful  impression  being  made  on  her  mind,  she 
believed  that  she  really  sewed  four  seams  at  once,  and  that  God, 
in  compassion  to  her  misfortunes,  had  worked  a  miracle  in  her 
behalf.* 

Case  XLIV.  Cardan,  of  whom  we  shall  elsewhere  relate  seve- 
ral hallucinations,  relates  that,  during  his  stay  in  Paris,  looking 
casually  at  his  hands,  he  was  much  alarmed  at  seeing  a  red  spot 
on  the  ring  of  the  right  forefinger.  That  evening,  he  received 
a  letter  from  his  son-in-law,  imforming  him  of  the  imprisonment 
of  his  son,  and  the  ardent  wish  that  he  had  to  see  him  at  Milan, 
where  he  was  detained.  The  mark  continued  to  spread  during 
fifty-three  days,  until  it  reached  the  extremity  of  the  finger  ;  it 
was  as  red  as  blood.  After  the  execution  of  his  son,  the  spot 
began  to  diminish;  the  day  after  his  death,  it  had  almost  entirely 
disappeared,  and  two  days  after  no  traces  remained. f 

*  Iloffbauer,  Médecine  legale  relatif  aux  aliénés  et  aux  sourds  muets, 
translated  from  the  German  by  Chambeyron,  with  notes  by  MM.  Esquirol 
and  Itard,  1  vol.  in  8vo.  Paris,  1807. 

f  Cardamus,  De  Vita  propria. 


HALLUCINATIONS  AS  CONNECTED  WITH  ILLUSIONS.  113 

Every  sense  may  be  the  seat  of  illusion,  and  all  may  be  simul- 
taneously affected. 

An  irregular  sensation  may  become  the  source,  by  its  potency, 
of  a  melancholy  affection. 

An  Italian  lady  had  a  constant  tingling  in  her  left  ear,  which 
increased  daily,  and  which  she  comjDared  to  the  ringing  of  a  bell. 
Becoming  quite  melancholy  in  consequence,  she  went  to  a  dentist 
in  Florence,  who  happily  thought  of  striking,  one  by  one,  all 
her  teeth  with  a  small  hammer.  As  the  hammer,  in  striking  the 
eye-tooth  of  the  upper  jaw,  occasioned  at  every  stroke  a  tinkling 
sensation,  he  regarded  that  tooth  as  the  seat  of  the  evil,  and 
therefore  extracted  it  ;  when  the  lady  was  at  once  relieved  from 
the  annoyance  that  had  troubled  her.  On  sawing  the  tooth 
longitudinally,  a  little  osseous  concretion  was  found  in  the  cavity 
suspended  to  the  nutritive  artery,  and  resem^bling  the  clapper  of 
a  bell.* 

Illusions  are  infinitely  varied.  A  commandant  of  artillery, 
who  thought  himself  pursued  by  his  enemies,  imagined  that  the 
letters  of  books  were  of  a  particular  nature,  that  they  galloped 
one  over  the  other,  and  were  printed  expressly  for  him.  Nothing 
could  drive  from  his  mind  the  idea  that  the  books  in  my  library 
were  composed  for  his  purpose.  This  illusion  may,  in  some  sort, 
be  likened  to  that  described  by  Dendy,f  which  occurs  in  some 
cases  where  morphine  had  been  employed,  and  which  has  rela- 
tion to  language  ;  for,  in  reading  and  listening,  it  seemed  as  if 
words  and  sentences  had  lost  their  true  meaning. 

The  transformation  of  figures  and  objects  is  a  very  usual  form 

of  illusion.     Miss  D imagined  every  one  in  the  house  to  be 

Irish  ;  all  played  a  part  in  this  general  travestie.  This  one  was 
her  enemy  ;  that,  the  enemy  of  one  of  her  relatives  ;  each  one 
had  his  character  and   position,  and   acted  accordingly.     This 

illusion  lasted  a  long  time.     Mrs.  M thought  she  saw  her 

brother,  who  had  been  dead  very  many  years,  in  the  persons  of 
several  who  were  sick.  Sauvages  speaks  of  an  error  of  hearing, 
under  the  name  vertiginous  tingling  {tintoin  vertigineux),  which 
consists  in  hearing  on  the  right,  words  addressed  on  the  left,  and 
vice  versa. 

*  Obs.  Med.  Napol.,  December  1,  1833. 
t  Philosophy  of  Mystery,  p.  88. 


114  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

Illusions  of  hearing  are  very  common  with  the  insane.  A 
kind  word  addressed  to  another  person,  a  simple  movement  of 
the  lips,  is  converted  into  taunts,  offensive  words,  and  injuries. 

Ravaillac,  in  chanting  the  Dixit  Dominus  of  David,  the 
Miserere  and  de  Profundis,  thought  that  the  sound  issuing  from 
his  larynx  had  the  nature  and  effect  of  a  war-trumpet.* 

Illusions,  like  hallucinations,  have  often  occasioned  quarrels, 
duels,  suicides,  and  murders. 

Case  XLV.  M.  C,  after  a  mental  aberration,  from  which  he 
has  not  quite  recovered,  returns  to  his  family.  The  day  after 
his  arrival,  he  goes  down  to  the  cellar,  followed  by  his  wife.  As 
he  docs  not  return,  his  sister-in-law  goes  down  likewise.  The 
continued  absence  of  these  three  persons  alarms  the  servant;  she 
wishes  to  ascertain  the  cause,  but  presently  returns,  shrieking 
fearfully,  and  rushes  from  the  house.  Her  broken  words  and 
looks  of  terror  intimate  some  dreadful  event.  The  watchmen 
fly  to  the  spot  ;  they  descend.  Two  Avomen  lie  on  the  ground, 
bathed  in  blood.  C.  is,  at  a  little  distance,  seated  on  a  cask, 
with  a  bloody  razor  at  his  feet.  To  all  their  questions  he  replies, 
that  he  is  defending  himself  against  the  devil.  This  man,  proved 
insane,  was  placed  at  Charenton  ;  and  in  1825  was  transferred 
to  the  private  establishment  of  Mme.  Marcel  Sainte  Colombe, 
where  I  attended  him  for  nearly  a  year.  On  being  restored  to 
reason,  he  demanded  his  liberty,  and,  against  the  advice  of  MM. 
Esquirol  and  Marc,  obtained  it.  Some  years  after,  he  rushed  on 
the  woman  who  lived  with  him,  taking  her  for  a  demon,  who 
was  reproaching  him  with  his  crimes  ;  she  only  escaped  by  throw- 
ing herself  out  of  the  window.  Twelve  days  after,  he  died,  in 
the  madhouse  of  Dr.  Pressât,  my  predecessor,  in  transports  of 
rage,  believing  himself  to  be  surrounded  with  phantoms  and 
devils,  t 

Case  XLVI.  Madame  B.,  who  has  been  in  our  establishment, 
is  well  educated  ;  she  converses  agreeably,  and  expresses  herself 
in  good  language.  On  two  different  occasions,  her  illusions  have 
led  her  to  the  commission  of  very  dangerous  acts.     The  first 

*  Procès,  examen,  &c.,  du  méchant  et  exécrable  parricide  Francois 
Ravaillac,  sur  la  mort  de  Henri  le  Grand.  An  anonymous  pamphlet,  Paris, 
ICll,  p.  35. 

f  A.  Brierrede  Boismont,  observations  medico  légales  sur  la  monomanie 
homicide,  Paris,  182G. 


HALLUCINATIONS  AS  CONNECTED  WITH  ILLUSIONS.  115 

time  she  seized  her  sister  by  the  throat,  and  tried  to  strangle  her, 
and  throw  her  out  of  the  window,  taking  her  for  a  corpse.  The 
second  time,  about  midnight,  she  knocked  gently  at  the  chamber- 
door  of  her  husband,  telling  him  that  she  was  taken  ill.  Scarcely 
had  he  opened  the  door  than  she  dealt  him  five  blows  on  the  head 
with  an  iron  bar.  Staggering  and  covered  with  blood,  he  made 
a  tremendous  effort,  pushed  her  out,  closed  the  door,  and  fainted; 
she  believed  him  to  be  a  devil.  This  lady  has  since  acknowledged 
her  mistake  ;  but  she  also  persists  in  saying  that  she  took  him 
for  a  devil. 

There  are  some  crazy  people  who  pick  up  sand  and  little  peb- 
bles, convinced  that  they  are  precious  stones;  they  fill  their  pock- 
ets with  them.  M.  V.  passes  the  whole  day  in  examining  these 
pretended  jcAvels  through  a  magnifying  glass,  in  order  to  select 
the  finest.  He  goes  to  his  room,  bending  under  the  weight  of 
his  riches.  By  illusions  of  the  touch,  persons  think  they  are 
struck.  Madame  D.  is  subject  to  an  eruption,  which  she  thinks 
are  marks  put  on  her  during  the  night  by  evil  people.  It 
is  certain  that  rheumatic,  neuralgic,  and  visceral  pains  become, 
to  many  deranged  persons,  the  source  of  illusions  of  the  touch. 

Those  of  smell  are  very  common.  Madame  L.  scents  the  most 
disgusting  objects,  pretending  that  they  exhale  a  delicious  per- 
fume. 

M.  D.  asserts  that  her  physicians  cause  the  most  infectious 
odors  to  arise  from  her  food  and  drinks,  by  which  means  they 
desire  to  kill  her. 

The  major  part  of  these  illusions  are  linked  with  the  preoccu- 
pations, ideas,  habits,  and  passions  of  the  patients.  One  young 
lady  tells  me  that  she  cannot  remain  any  longer,  because  every 
one  around  her  is  disguised;  that  it  is  a  perpetual  carnival.  This 
illusion,  like  many  others,  remained  long  inexplicable,  until  I  at 
length  discovered  that  the  event  which  caused  her  madness  took 
place  at  a  masked  ball. 

Illusions  of  taste  are  constantly  occurring.  We  will  cite  the 
case  of  the  patient  who,  maintaining  for  years  an  obstinate  silence, 
passed  his  days  in  licking  the  walls  of  his  room,  for  which  no 
one  could  account,  when  he  one  day  said  :  "  You  do  not  know 
what  I  taste?  These  are  delicious  oranges."  Nothing  is  more 
common,  especially  among  melancholy  monomaniacs,  than  to  hear 
them  complain  of  the  poisonous  flavor  of  their  food.     This  idea 


il6  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

frequently  leads  tliem  to  commit  suicide  tlirough  abstinence. 
"VVe  have  frequently  noticed  horrible  perversions  of  taste.  A 
patient  who  remained  eighteen  months  in  our  establishment 
every  day  devoured  any  filth  she  could  find.  Her  breath  became 
very  offensive.  When  remonstrated  with  on  this  depraved  taste, 
she  flew  into  a  passion,  and  said  that  it  was  excellent  food.  The 
contrast  which  the  manners  and  language  of  this  young  woman 
presented  to  her  conduct  and  appearance  was  painful  to  wit- 
ness. Every  day  another  young  lady,  perfectly  well-educated, 
and  full  of  wit  and  talent,  came  to  see  her,  avowing  that  she  was 
her  sister,  who  had  really  been  dead  for  ten  years. 

A  number  of  the  facts  that  we  have  reported,  and  of  which 
we  have  only  given  a  brief  account,  were  cases  of  combined  hal- 
lucinations of  hearing,  sight,  etc.  The  following  is  only  a  more 
complete  reproduction  of  them  : — 

Case  XLVII.  Madame  R.,  aged  forty-nine,  small  in  person, 
brown,  lean,  lymphatic,  sanguine,  leading  a  very  regular  life, 
and  extremely  parsimonious,  lost,  through  a  relative,  a  consider- 
able sum  of  money.  Up  to  that  time,  she  had  never  shown  any 
symptoms  of  insanity,  although  her  mother  had  been  deranged. 
Almost  immediately  after  this  reverse  of  fortune,  she  became  rest- 
less and  eccentric.  Three  or  four  days  before  she  was  brought  to 
me,  she  began  to  talk  incoherently;  incessantly  repeated  that 
every  one  was  robbing  her,  and  taking  her  property.  She  showed 
an  extreme  fear  of  being  arrested  by  a  gendarme.  This  idea  so 
possessed  her  that  she  said,  rather  than  be  subjected  to  it,  she 
would  commit  suicide. 

Besides  this,  Madame  R.  believed  that  she  was  surrounded  by 
menacing  figures,  who  uttered  impertinences  and  insulting  lan- 
guage. She  sought  for  them  behind  the  curtains,  under  the  bed, 
and  in  the  wardrobes.  These  figures  were  equally  distinct  day 
and  night,  and  during  a  conversation  she  maintained  that  they 
were  actually  present. 

Besides  these  imaginary  creations,  she  insisted  that  the  coun- 
tenances of  strangers  were  those  of  persons  intimately  known  to 
her.  During  eight  days  she  abused  my  wife,  taking  her  for  one 
of  the  intimate  friends  who  had  brought  her  to  my  establishment. 
It  was  in  vain  that  my  wife  endeavored  to  undeceive  her;  her 
consolations  were  converted  into  insults,  nonsense,  or  grossness. 
"How  wicked  you  are!"  she  would  say;  "you  only  speak  to 


HALLUCINATIONS  AS  CONNECTED  WITH  ILLUSIONS.  117 

maltreat  me."  At  this  time,  her  breath  was  fetid  and  gastric,  and 
she  refused  all  nourishment,  asserting  either  that  her  food  was 
poisoned,  or  that  it  had  so  detestable  a  flavor  that  she  could  not 
touch  it. 

This  lady  complained  that  she  was  beaten  in  the  night,  and 
that  the  attendants  bruised  her  by  their  tortures.  I  was  witness 
to  the  fact  that  it  was  only  necessary  to  touch  her  to  make  her 
say  she  was  hurt. 

On  two  différent  occasions  she  attempted  suicide.  The  last 
had,  for  the  moment,  a  favorable  result.  She  was  much  bruised 
by  her  fall,  and  during  several  days  spoke  rationally  on  her 
hallucinations  and  illusions. 

We  have  seen,  in  Bodin's  case  (Case  XXYII.),  that  hallucina- 
tions take  place  sometimes  on  the  right,  sometimes  on  the  left 
side.  This  phenomenon,  to  which  M.  Michea  has  given  the  title 
of  double  hallucinations,*  may  equally  be  manifested  in  illusions. 

Bartholin  speaks  of  an  hysterical  female  who  saw  everything 
in  nature  shortened  to  half  its  size,  and  who  saw  only  with  the 
left  eye.f 

Illusions  may  be  of  long  continuance.  Guislain  relates  the 
case  of  a  poor  woman  who  lost  her  reason  on  account  of  her  son 
joining  the  army.  An  idiot  being  one  day  brought  into  the  asy- 
lum where  she  was,  she  took  him  for  this  much  regretted  son, 
and  for  years  lavished  upon  him  the  most  tender  caresses. 

Recapitulation. — Illusions,  like  hallucinations,  may  exist  in 
a  healthy  state.  They  have  formed  one  of  the  most  powerful 
arguments  against  the  veracity  of  the  senses.  This  philosophical 
error  has  arisen  from  more  being  required  of  the  senses  than  it 
is  their  mission  to  bestow.  Illusions  cannot  be  confounded  with 
hallucinations,  inasmuch  as  the  former  have  a  material  object 
for  their  foundation,  whilst  the  second  are  purely  cerebral 
images. 

Neither  their  frequent  complexity,  nor  their  transformation 
into  each  other,  nor  their  common  origin,  nor  the  difiBculty  of 
distinguishing  them,  can  destroy  this  division.  Illusions,  as  well 
as  hallucinations,  have  their  seat  in  the  brain.  Illusions  in  sane 
persons  are  corrected  by  observation,  experience,  and  judgment, 
and  have  besides  no  influence  on  their  general  conduct.     Igno- 

*  Hallucinations  dédoublées.  f  De  luce  animal,  p.  41. 


118  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

ranee  is  their  most  common  cause;  and  thej  greatly  diminish  as 
instruction  progresses.  Fear,  darkness,  and  a  particular  dispo- 
sition of  mind  are  favorable  to  their  existence.  The  association 
of  ideas  plays  an  important  part  in  the  production  of  illusions. 
To  the  united  effects  of  these  circumstances  must  be  attributed 
the  appearance  of  figures  walking  out  from  tapestry,  statues 
that  move,  sighs  that  come  from  the  tombs,  etc.  etc.  Illusions 
have  often  occurred  in  an  epidemic  form,  which  must  be  attri- 
buted to  certain  beliefs,  to  ignorance  of  physics,  to  severe  fevers, 
and  to  the  power  of  example  and  imitation.  With  the  insane, 
illusions  may  first  appear,  may  be  replaced  by  hallucinations, 
may  unite  with  them,  may  succeed  them,  or  they  may  exist 
singly.  Like  hallucinations,  illusions  may  show  themselves  one 
by  one,  two  by  two,  or  affect  all  the  senses  together;  like  them, 
they  may  be  the  cause  of  singular,  dangerous,  and  reprehensible 
acts.  Habits,  inclinations,  passions,  and  powerful  emotions  ex- 
plain the  greater  number  of  illusions. 


CHAPTER    V. 

HALLUCINATIONS  ARRANGED  IN  THE  ORDER  OF  THEIR  FREQUENCY. 

The  varieties  of  monomania  with  which  they  most  generally  unite — Observations 
on  lypemania — Hallucinations  are  a  reflex  of  the  habits  of  the  insane — Obser- 
vations on  demonology  of  the  incubus — Nature  of  sexual  hallucinations — 
Observations  on  nostalgia — Observations  on  calentura — Recapitulation. 

Although  hallucination  may  exist  by  itself,  independently  of 
all  complication,  it  is  no  less  certain  that  it  is  most  frequently 
united  with  the  different  kinds  of  insanity  at  present  recognized. 
According  to  Esquirol,  eighty  out  of  one  hundred  insane  per- 
sons have  hallucinations.  From  more  recent  inquiries,  this  ap- 
pears to  be  too  great  a  proportion.  It  is  especially  noticed  in 
monomania,  either  from  its  own  peculiar  nature,  or  from  investi- 
gation in  this  form  of  mental  derangement  being  easier  to  make. 
It  is  not  always  thus,  since  there  are  cases  of  melancholy  patients 
who  maintain  an  obstinate  silence  for  years,  and  whose  secret, 
chance  alone  betrays.  It  may,  however,  be  taken  as  a  general 
position,  that  the  more  strange  and  unaccountable  the  actions  of 
madmen,  the  greater  is  the  probability  that  they  are  the  result 
of  hallucinations  or  illusions. 

Case  XLVIII.  "I  saw,"  says  Marc,  "in  the  madhouse  of 
Dr.  Pressât,  an  aged  man,  who  had  become  melancholy  from  re- 
verse of  fortune.  He  had  not  spoken  for  several  years,  and  his 
only  occupation  consisted  in  smelling  and  licking  the  walls  of  his 
room,  as  well  as  the  threshold  of  the  door.  No  one  could  ex- 
plain the  motives  for  an  action  as  extravagant  as  painful,  and 
the  frequency  and  duration  of  which  had  left  deep  and  nume- 
rous impressions  on  the  plaster  walls  of  the  place  he  inhabited. 
I  had  frequently  interrogated  him,  but  unsuccessfully,  as  to  the 
reasons  for  such  strange  conduct,  conduct  that  could  only  excite 
compassion  and  disgust,  when  one  day,  pretending  not  to  notice 
him,  I  inquired  of  a  keeper  what  caused  all  the  spots  and  nume- 


120  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

reus  dirty  hollows  that  I  noticed  on  the  walls.  To  our  great 
astonishment,  the  patient  broke  the  silence  he  had  so  long  main- 
tained, and  said  :  '  You  call  those  dirty  spots  and  hollows,  don't 
you?  See,  they  are  Japan  oranges!  What  delicious  fruit!  what 
a  color!  what  fragrance!  what  exquisite  flavor!'  And  he  re- 
commenced inhaling  and  licking  with  redoubled  ardor.  Thus, 
all  was  explained,  and  the  poor  hallucinist,  whom  I  had  pitied  as 
one  of  the  most  unfortunate  of  men,  was,  on  the  contrary,  very 
happy,  since  the  most  delightful  hallucinations  of  sight,  taste, 
and  smell  gave  him  continued  enjoyment."* 

The  frequency  of  hallucinations  in  madness  induced  many 
physicians  to  notice  their  number  more  precisely  than  had  pre- 
viously been  done.  "  In  145  patients  under  treatment  in  the 
Bicetre  division,"  says  M.  Baudry,  "56  presented  hallucinations.f 
Messrs.  Aubanel  and  Thore,  in  their  Statistique  de  Bicêtre,  said 
that,  out  of  87  cases  of  monomania  which  they  attended  in  one 
year,  45  exhibited  this  epiphenomenon.  In  66  cases  without 
sadness,  35  had  hallucinations,  and  in  21  cases  of  lypemania,  it 
was  noticed  11  times.J  In  14  cases,  the  hallucinations  were 
single,  and  constituted  all  of  the  malady.  At  other  times,  they 
were  mingled  with  a  partial  disturbance  of  the  faculties,  and 
were  combined  with  them.     These  hallucinations  were  as  follows  : 

Of  hearing  there  were  19  cases. 

Of  sight  there  were  11     " 
Of  taste  there  were  3     " 

Of  touch  there  was  1  case. 

Of  the  internal  organs  there  was        1     " 

As  in  mania,  those  of  hearing  were  the  most  frequent,  and 
next  those  of  sight.  Hallucinations  of  smell  were  not  noticed. 
Many  of  the  hallucinations  existed  simultaneously  in  the  same 
individual  ;  those  of  sight  and  hearing  were  most  frequently 
associated.  None  of  the  patients  exhibited  hallucinations  of 
all  the  senses. 

Of  these  66  monomaniacs,  21  were  affected  with  lypemania. 
Of  this  number,  11  showed  symptoms  of  hallucinations,  and 
were  distributed  as  follows  : — 

*  Marc,  De  la  folie  dans  ses  rapports  avec  les  questions  médico-judici- 
aires, 2  vols,  in  8vo.,  Paris,  t.  i.  p.  191,  1840. 

t  Thèse,  1833,  p.  14.  J  Thèse,  p.  101. 


HALLUCINATIONS  IN  THE  ORDER  OF  THEIR  FREQUENCY.      121 

Of  sight  there  were  3  cases. 

Of  hearing  there  were  6     " 

Of  taste  there  were  2     " 

In  a  similar  examination,  in  our  establishment,  we  found  that, 
out  of  62  patients  assembled  there  at  the  time, 

18  were  monomaniacs  ; 

7     "     maniacs; 
21     "     demented; 

7     "     paralytic  ; 

9     "     imbecile. 

Of  this  number,  38  had  hallucinations,  and  24  showed  no 
symptoms  of  them.     With  our  18  monomaniacs,  hallucinations 

Of  hearing  and  sight  occurred  8  times. 
Of  hearing  and  taste  "         1  time. 

Of  hearing  2  times. 

Of  sight  1  time. 

In  addition  to  which  several  had  illusions.  The  form  of 
lypemania  prevailed  in  monomania  ;  in  males,  this  was  most 
characterized  by  fear  of  enemies.  All  those  aifected  by  it  had 
hallucinations  of  hearing  and  sight,  combined  or  separate. 

It  appears,  by  this  statement,  that  more  than  half  the  insane 
in  the  establishment  had  hallucinations  ;  but  this  proportion  is 
much  increased  if  we  deduct  from  the  list  the  imbeciles  and  cer- 
tain paralytics.  We  must  not  lose  sight  of  the  fact  that,  what- 
ever attention  we  may  pay  to  this  phenomenon,  there  are  some 
in  whom  it  is  impossible  to  discover  it.  Esquirol  mentions  a 
case  of  a  hypochondriac,  who  passed  his  days  in  perfect  immo- 
bility, and  seemed  lost  to  everything  around  him.  He  was  main- 
tained in  this  state  by  the  terror  occasioned  by  a  voice,  which 
threatened  him  with  death  if  he  made  the  slightest  movement. 

Hallucinations  seem  to  occur  most  frequently  with  lypemania, 
nostalgia,  calentura,  which  is  but  a  modification  of  it,  delirium 
tremens,  demonomania,  and  erotomania.  The  distressed  sensa- 
tions occurring  in  delirium  tremens  will  be  the  subject  of  another 
chapter.  Every  close  observer  must  have  been  struck  with  the 
number  of  lypemaniacs  in  establishments  devoted  to  mental  ma- 


122  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

ladies.  A  little  reflection  will  readily  explain  this  fact.  Is  not 
grief,  that  sad  attendant  on  humanity,  the  source  of  the  greater 
number  of  alienations  ?  In  the  world,  the  countenance  is  com- 
posed, to  meet  the  eye  of  indifference,  envy,  or  curiosity;  but, 
in  the  retirement  of  home,  the  mask  falls  off,  and  the  real  suffer- 
ing is  unveiled,  with  all  its  attendant  symptoms. 

Alexander  Morison  has  remarked  that,  in  panophobia,  indi- 
viduals are  more  exposed  to  hallucinations  than  in  other  forms  of 
monomania,  because  they  see  objects,  and  hear  unceasingly 
noises,  which  frighten  them;  and  that  they  attribute  to  them- 
selves all  kinds  of  crimes.* 

Case  XLIX.  Madame  L.,  whose  misfortunes  and  heroic  de- 
votion have  made  her  name  forever  celebrated,  became  insane  in 
consequence  of  very  severe  moral  emotions.  The  commencement 
of  her  malady  was  characterized  by  extreme  agitation,  occasioned 
by  fear  of  persecution  that  possessed  her,  and  by  the  painful  hallu- 
cinations of  hearing,  sight,  and  touch.  This  lady  not  only  heard 
voices  that  held  conversations  painful  to  her,  but  also  saw  the 
most  hideous  and  threatening  figures  come  out  of  the  wall. 
Whenever  she  placed  her  feet  on  the  ground,  she  thought  that 
she  received  electric  shocks,  which  made  her  throw  off  both  shoes 
and  stockings,  and  constantly  change  her  place. f 

Case  L.  On  the  30th  December,  1839,  M.  D.  was  received 
into  my  establishment.  He  came  from  Bicetre,  where  he  had  been 
conveyed  two  months  previously  for  an  act  of  madness.  Son  to 
a  rich  merchant,  and  having  tasted  all  the  delights  of  luxury,  he 
saw,  by  a  continuous  train  of  catastrophes,  the  whole  of  his  for- 
tune perish.  Obliged  to  give  lessons,  and  frequently  reduced  to 
endure  the  greatest  privations,  his  mind  became  deeply  sad- 
dened; irresolution,  dejection,  and  despair  were  the  unhappy  con- 
sequences. From  this  stage  to  madness  was  but  a  step,  which  was 
soon  taken. 

When  he  came  to  me,  I  found  him  agitated,  fearful,  and  trem- 
bling at  the  slightest  question.  He  complained  of  general  chilli- 
ness, a  common  symptom  with  lypemaniacs;  but  what  tormented 
him  more  than  anything  else  was,  to  hear  the  voices  of  his  ene- 
mies, who  spoke  to  him  through  the  Avails,  and  to  be  harassed  by 

*  Alex.  Morison,  Cases  of  Mental  Disease,  with  Practical  Observations  on 
their  Medical  Treatment, 
t  Marc,  op.  cit. 


HALLUCINATIONS  IN  THE  OKDER  OF  THEIR  FREQUENCY.      123 

individuals  who  had  put  objects  of  value  into  his  pillow  and  his 
mattress,  in  order  to  dishonor  him,  and  make  him  pass  for  a  thief. 
This  idea  never  left  him  a  moment's  peace.  He  passed  his  days 
in  sighing,  and  complaining  that  he  was  about  to  suffer  the  most 
cruel  torments.  It  was  in  vain  to  say  to  him:  "For  ten  days 
you  have  repeated  the  same  thing,  and  yet  nothing  has  happened 
to  you."  It  was  in  vain  to  surround  him  with  cares  and  kind- 
nesses; he  was  insensible  to  everything.  I  know  of  no  sight 
more  painful  than  that  of  melancholy  which  has  reached  this 
stage,  and,  having  several  times  witnessed  it,  I  can  comprehend 
the  contagiousness  of  example  and  suicide. 

In  order  to  lessen  his  anguish,  I  had  his  pillow  unsewn,  which 
he  imagined  was  filled  by  his  malicious  enemies  with  diamonds, 
although  he  could  never  tell  us  why  they  desired  his  ruin.  After 
looking  most  attentively  at  its  contents,  he  was  tranquil  for  the 
rest  of  the  day;  but  on  the  next  day  his  notions  returned,  and, 
although  we  proposed  to  repeat  the  experiment,  he  told  me,  with 
a  despairing  tone,  that  the  unseen  persons  took  care  to  remove 
the  diamonds.  This  poor  creature  was  worse  at  night  than  dur- 
ing the  day.  He  would  then  see  a  man  who  took  his  clothes,  to 
fill  them  with  precious  stones.  At  other  times,  his  persecutors, 
assembling  in  greater  numbers,  would  put  him  in  the  bath,  mal- 
treat and  beat  him.  In  the  morning,  he  declared  his  body  broken 
down  by  the  evil  done  to  him.  At  other  times,  he  was  trans- 
ported to  different  parts  of  France,  to  Africa,  or  to  America. 
His  descriptions  of  these  places  were  confused;  often  he  was 
satisfied  with  merely  naming  them. 

His  plate,  the  wall,  his  curtains  appeared  filled  with  people 
and  ships,  come  to  carry  him  off.  When  his  food  was  brought, 
he  would  never  take  his  own  plate,  but  that  of  another,  as  he 
had  conceived  the  idea  that  we  wished  to  poison  him.  The 
di^inks  we  provided  were  a  terrible  punishment,  in  consequence 
of  the  poisonous  eflluvia  he  found  in  them  ;  and  he  never  emptied 
his  glass,  supposing  that  some  of  the  poison  would  remain  at  the 
bottom.  One  of  his  great  fears  was  to  be  left  in  a  room  where 
there  was  any  silver  plate,  so  much  did  he  dread  being  accused 
of  stealing  it. 

This  very  man,  whose  false  perceptions  nothing  could  conquer, 
joined  in  conversation  with  remarkable  appositeness  whenever 
his  attention  could  be  unexpectedly  fixed. 


124  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

The  despair  whicli  his  constant  dread  of  being  accused  of  robbery 
occasioned,  made  us  fear  that  he  would  commit  suicide,  so  that 
he  was  constantly  watched.  It  often  happens  with  those  patients, 
who  believe  that  we  wish  to  poison  them,  that  they  diminish  the 
quantity  of  their  food  daily.  This  progressive  abstinence  has 
the  effect  of  determining  dyspeptic  symptoms,  which  increase  so 
much  as  to  make  it  very  difficult  to  oblige  them  to  take  the 
quantity  of  food  absolutely  necessary.  Many  complain  of  vio- 
lent pains  in  the 'pharynx,  in  the  œsophagus,  and  in  the  stomach; 
and  deglutition  becomes  very  painful. 

M.  D.,  who  had  for  some  time  eaten  but  little,  began  to  insist 
on  it  that  copper  and  sponge  were  put  into  his  throat  and  sto- 
mach. He  did  not  conceal  his  impression  that  myself,  my  wife, 
and  my  children  were  plotting  to  poison  him.  He  begged  our 
pardon  for  the  idea;  understood  that  it  must  appear  very  strange; 
and  that  any  one  else  who  should  hold  such  language  might  be 
looked  on  as  a  madman,  but  said,  nevertheless,  that  what  he  as- 
serted was  the  truth. 

The  life  of  man  is  a  long  train  of  contradictions  and  false- 
hoods ;  with  one  turn  of  the  dice,  he  moves  from  black  to  white, 
and  does  and  says  just  the  contrary  to  what  he  did  and  said  just 
before.  The  acts  of  the  insane  are  only  an  exaggeration  of  this 
singular  contrariety.  Here  is  an  unhappy  being,  who,  full  of 
fear  at  being  poisoned,  condemns  himself  to  all  the  horrors  of 
famine,  substitutes  a  real  punishment  to  escape  imaginary  tor- 
ments, and  who  dreads  death,  but  brings  it  on  himself.  It  is  in 
vain  that  he  sees  those  with  whom  he  dines  eat  of  the  same  dishes 
and  drink  of  the  same  wine  ;  nothing  tranquillizes  him  ;  he  per- 
sists in  believing  that  the  head  of  the  establishment,  who  has  the 
greatest  interest  in  preserving  his  patients,  is  making  every  effort 
to  kill  them  by  poison,  without  being  able  to  give  any  motive  for 
the  act.  Is  it  true,  as  moralists  assert,  that  anticipated  ills  are 
more  terrible  than  those  that  are  present  ? 

Four  months  after  his  entrance,  his  extreme  emaciation  proved 
the  effect  of  this  regimen  on  his  organization  ;  the  pulse  was 
weak  and  slow  ;  the  skin  was  sensibly  cold,  especially  the  ex- 
tremities, and  the  complexion  was  cadaverous.  For  some  days 
he  had  a  short,  dry  cough,  and  his  breath  was  inexpressibly  of- 
fensive.    As  the  disorder  progressed,  his  voice  became  hoarse, 


HALLUCINATIONS  IN  THE  ORDER  OF  THEIR  FREQUENCY.      125 

and  finally  inaudible  ;  it  was  necessary  to  lean  close  to  liim  to 
catch  any  of  his  words. 

Notwithstanding  this  wasting,  and  the  certain  signs  of  approach- 
ing death,  the  poor  man  no  less  persisted  in  his  chimerical  ideas  ; 
he  was  still  convinced  that  they  were  putting  sponges,  keys,  and 
other  strange  substances  into  his  stomach.  In  order  to  prevent 
his  food  touching  the  plates,  he  endeavored  to  hold  it  suspended 
in  the  air.  His  distress,  when  it  fell,  was  fearful.  Even  just 
before  his  death-agony,  he  repeated  that  he  had  been  poisoned, 
and  that  his  pillows  were  full  of  diamonds  which  he  was  accused 
of  stealing.  He  expired  with  the  assertion  that  the  morsel  he 
ate  was  poisoned. 

The  hallucinations  of  lypemaniacs  bear  relation  to  the  cause 
and  nature  of  their  malady,  to  the  character  of  their  general 
ideas,  and  to  the  germ  of  their  passions  ;  and  they  will,  therefore, 
be  a  more  or  less  faithful  reproduction  of  all  these  qualities. 
Those  who  have  studied  chemistry  and  physics,  or  who  have  heard 
these  sciences  made  the  subject  of  conversation,  believe  themselves 
to  be  pursued  by  philosophers,  by  electricity,  and  magnetism. 
Those  who  have  been  rich,  who  have  been  industrious,  and  have 
lost  their  money,  imagine  that  they  are  being  robbed,  or  that  the 
gendarmes  are  coming  for  them.  In  a  word,  in  the  greater 
number  of  cases,  hallucination  is  only  an  echo  that  supplies  to  us 
useful  information.  Some  hypochondriacs,  victims  of  hallucina- 
tions, are  in  a  state  of  anxiety  which  it  is  impossible  to  describe; 
they  conceive  that  whilst,  apparently,  every  precaution  is  taken 
to  prevent  their  killing  themselves,  the  means  are  surreptitiously 
pointed  out.  These  hypochondriacs  look  mournful  and  repel- 
lant  ;  despair  is  painted  on  all  their  features  ;  their  countenances 
are  fixed,  earthy,  and  yellowish  ;  their  eyes,  deep  sunk  and  down- 
cast, are  of  the  same  tint,  or  very  much  bloodshot.  They  have 
more  or  less  of  cephalalgia  across  the  forehead,  and  particularly 
at  the  root  of  the  nose.  These  patients  feel  much  throbbing 
in  the  interior  of  the  head  ;  they  are  tormented  with  sleepless- 
ness, or,  if  they  sleep,  they  are  troubled  by  dreams  and  fantastic 
apparitions. 

Ascetic  delirium  has  fatal  results.  When  the  miserable  beings 
who  are  attacked  by  it  are  haunted  by  hallucinations,  they  yield 
entirely  to  the  impulses  of  the  devil,  who  is  the  spring  of  all  theh" 


J 


126  '  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

actions.*  The  fear  of  the  devil,  and  the  dread  of  future  punish- 
ments, had  formerly  an  extraordinary  influence  on  the  human 
mind.  Demonology,  which  has  greatly  diminished  since  the  18th 
century,  reappears  with  the  reaction  of  religious  feeling,  as  if 
evil  must  he  the  inevitable  shadow  of  good.  In  the  space  of  six 
years,  we  have  noticed  fifteen  cases  in  our  establishment. 

Dr.  Macario  has  an  idea  that  this  form  of  madness  is  frequent 
in  the  provincial  insane  asylums,  which  he  attributes  to  the  fact 
that  materialism  has  not  become  so  strongly  rooted  in  the  French 
soil  as  might  be  supposed.!  He  thinks  that  these  insane  persons 
have  a  crowd  of  hallucinations  and  illusions.  The  devil  presents 
himself  to  them  under  the  form  of  an  animal — sometimes  as  a 
man-dog,  a  hunchback,  or  a  lightning  flash.  He  enters  into 
them;  speaks  by  their  mouths;  engrosses  all  their  faculties  ;  bites 
and  burns  them  ;  tears  out  their  hearts,  their  brains,  their  intes- 
tines, and  torments  them  in  a  thousand  ways  ;  spreads  an  infec- 
tious odor  of  sulphur,  of  a  goat,  &c.  ;  at  other  times,  and  this  is 
particularly  remarked  in  females,  the  evil  spirit  makes  unhallowed 
proposals. 

Some  demonomaniacs  are  taken  up  into  the  air  or  transported 
to  hell,  where,  full  of  terror,  they  watch  the  torments  of  the 
damned.  Others  believe  themselves  transformed  into  animals, 
trees,  fruits,  or  reduced  to  cinders,  and  then,  like  the  phoenix, 
believe  themselves  resuscitated  and  regenerated  ;  some  are  sur- 
rounded with  hideous  reptiles  and  corpses  ;  some  again  say  they 
have  sold  their  souls  to  the  devil,  and  signed  the  compact  with 
blood  ;  they  believe  themselves  eternally  damned.  There  are 
those  who  say  that  they  will  never  die  ;  but,  at  the  end  of  the 
world,  be  alone  on  the  earth.  Some  are  happier  ;  they  are  pro- 
tected by  the  devil,  who  teaches  them  the  secret  of  making  gold, 
predicts  to  them  the  future,  unveils  the  mysteries  of  hell,  and 
gives  them  the  power  of  performing  miracles;  at  their  voice, 
the  lightnings  flash,  the  thunder  roars,  rain  falls,  the  earth  opens, 
and  the  dead  come  to  life. 

Case  LI.  Madame  C,  a  foreigner,  forty-eight  years  of  age, 

*  Falcot,  Du  Suicide  et  de  I'llypochondrie,  1  vol.  in  8vo.,  1822,  p.  153, 
tt  aeq^. 

t  Etuiles  cliniques  sur  la  Démonologie,  Annales  Médico-Psychologiques, 
May,  1843,  p.  440,  ei  seq. 


HALLUCINATIONS  IN  THE  ORDER  OF  THEIR  FREQUENCY.   127 

was  always  lively  and  impressible.  Educated  amidst  the  most 
superstitious  practices,  and  very  ignorant,  according  to  the  usage 
of  her  country,  she  was  subject,  during  six  years,  to  an  inter- 
mittent melancholy,  which,  after  several  attacks,  presented  a 
novel  form.  This  lady,  who  for  some  time  had  given  up  all  re- 
ligious exercises,  became  filled  with  scruples,  and  thought  herself 
damned.  Haunted  by  this  idea,  for  several  days  she  refused  all 
nourishment,  and  when  brought  to  my  establishment,  had  several 
crises  of  fury.  In  our  first  interview,  she  pronounced  the  follow- 
ing words  with  great  volubility:  "I  am  in  hell,  damned — while 
you  are  in  Paradise."  Then,  becoming  tranquil,  she  commenced 
weeping,  complained  of  seeing  devils,  and  of  being  surrounded 
with  flames.  "  I  am  damned  ;  my  children  are  damned  ;  save 
me!"  Saying  these  words,  she  howled  like  a  wild  beast,  beat 
her  head  against  the  walls,  broke  window-panes,  and  tore  her 
clothes  ;  asking  incessantly  for  drink,  as  if  devoured  by  an  in- 
ternal fire. 

For  three  days  she  was  calm,  then  the  same  ideas  returned  ; 
with  dishevelled  hair,  haggard  eyes,  and  prolonged  bowlings, 
she  bore  a  striking  resemblance  to  one  possessed.  An  abundant 
mucus  escaped  from  her  mouth,  which  she  sometimes  spat  at  the 
assistants  ;  the  terror  and  despair  imprinted  on  her  countenance 
indicated  but  too  clearly  the  effect  of  these  frightful  visions. 
When  her  strait  waistcoat  was  removed,  she  bruised  her  bosom 
with  blows  ;  and  several  times  attempted  to  dash  out  her  brains 
against  the  wall. 

In  the  last  month  of  her  disease,  her  cries  became  so  incessant 
that  we  were  obliged  to  place  her  in  a  lonely  apartment.  There 
— squatted  down,  her  body  blue  with  the  blows  she  continued  to 
give  herself;  her  eyes  fixed,  sunk,  and  bloodshot;  her  skin  cada- 
verous, yellowish,  and  wrinkled  ;  with  a  menacing  air,  a  voice 
hoarse  with  crying  that  she  was  lost,  damned,  and  that  the  devil 
possessed  her,  and  tortured  her,  and  prevented  her  from  closing 
her  eyes  by  his  constant  apparition — she  presented  a  spectacle 
of  the  most  frightful  despair.  At  intervals,  she  would  supplicate 
the  keepers  to  save,  and  snatch  her  from  her  fate. 

This  horrible  phantasmagoria  would  naturally  affect  all  the 
functions.  She  soon  refused  all  nourishment,  and  for  three  or 
four  days  together  would  not  take  any.     During  the  last  period 


128  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

of  her  life,  she  remained  for  fifteen  days  without  eating,  and  only 
drank  occasionally  a  cup  of  coffee.  This  also  she  frequently 
rejected,  saying  that  it  burnt  her,  and  had  an  abominable  taste, 
which  proceeded  from  the  fetidness  of  her  breath,  which  was 
really  insupportable. 

At  length  her  eyes  and  nostrils  became  filled  with  a  purulent 
mucus  that  indicated  the  fatal  termination.  In  the  last  days  of 
her  existence,  she  proved  how  much  the  maladies  of  the  nervous 
system  may  change  the  organization.  Reduced  to  the  last  de- 
gree of  marasma,  she  had  so  interlocked  her  limbs,  and  knotted 
herself  together,  that  no  efforts  could  replace  her  in  a  natural 
position.  In  this  state  of  rigidity  she  expired,  a  prey  to  the 
same  hallucinations,  refusing  drink,  and  often  repeating  that  she 
did  not  wish  to  die. 

We  have  treated  of  deranged  persons  who  im.agined  that  the 
devil  had  entered  into  them,  and  that  they  were  surrounded  with 
flames  ;  of  others  at  whom  he  made  grimaces,  and  to  whom  he 
addressed  menacing  language.  A  young  lady  followed  us  inces- 
santly, to  tell  us  that  all  mankind  was  damned,  and  that  we  were 
all  devils,  for  in  these  cases  illusions  often  coincide  with  halluci- 
nations. 

With  women,  the  apparitions  of  the  foul  fiend  are  associated 
with  sexual  approximation,  which  explains  hysterical  symptoms, 
erotomania,  and  nymphomania,  so  common  to  this  sex.  Facts 
of  this  kind  are  so  numerous  that  we  are  perplexed  in  our  at- 
tempt to  make  a  selection. 

Case  LII.  There  was,  at  Nantes,  an  unhappy  woman  who 
was  tormented  with  a  certain  devil  full  of  effrontery  ;  this  demon 
had  appeared  to  her  under  a  very  handsome  figure.  Concealing 
his  vile  intentions,  and  making  use  of  winning  language,  he  had 
inspired  her  soul  with  favorable  feelings  towards  him,  and  suc- 
ceeded in  subduing  her  will  in  entire  obedience  to  his  desires. 

Her  husband  was  a  brave  chevalier,  who  was  entirely  ignorant 
of  this  execrable  intercourse,  which  continued  for  six  years,  at 
the  end  of  which  time,  she  became  terrified,  by  the  infamy  of  so 
much  vileness,  and  by  the  fear  of  God,  dreading  at  every  moment 
lest  his  fearful  judgments  should  fall  upon  her.  Plaving  made 
her  way  to  the  feet  of  a  priest,  and  confessed  her  sin,  she  inces- 
santly visited  holy  places,  and  asked  assistance  of  the  saints  ;  but 


HALLUCINATIONS  IN  THE  ORDER  OF  THEIR  FREQUENCY.      129 

no  confession,  no  prayer,  no  almsgiving  could  bring  her  relief. 
Daily,  the  demon  pursued  her  with  his  furious  passion.  At  length 
the  crime  became  notorious.  It  reached  the  ears  of  the  husband, 
who  looked  on  his  wife  with  horror.  In  the  mean  while,  St.  Ber- 
nard and  his  suite  arrived.  The  unhappy  woman  rushed  to  his 
feet,  and  amidst  torrents  of  tears  confessed  her  horrible  sufferings, 
the  reiterated  insults  of  the  demon  to  whom  she  was  a  prey,  and 
the  uselessness  of  all  she  had  done  by  the  priest's  order;  she 
added  that  her  oppressor  had  warned  her  of  the  approach  of  the 
holy  man,  and  had  forbidden  her,  with  the  most  dreadful  menaces, 
to  present  herself  before  him  ;  saying  that  it  would  serve  no  pur- 
pose, since  the  abbé,  once  gone,  he,  who  had  been  her  greatest 
friend,  would  become  her  most  cruel  persecutor.  At  this,  the 
servant  of  God  consoled  her  by  words  full  of  kindness,  and  pro- 
mised her  the  assistance  of  Heaven  ;  and,  as  night  was  then  ap- 
proaching, he  desired  her  to  return  to  him  on  the  following  day, 
and  to  put  her  trust  in  the  Lord. 

In  the  morning  she  returned,  and  communicated  to  the  man 
of  God  the  blasphemies  and  menaces  which  her  incubus  had 
addressed  to  her.  "Have  no  fear,"  said  St.  Bernard,  "of  his 
menaces  ;  but  take  my  staff,  and  lay  it  in  your  bed  ;  then  let  the 
demon  touch  you  if  he  can."  The  woman  did  as  she  was  de- 
sired, lay  down  in  her  bed  fortified  by  making  the  sign  of  the 
cross,  and  placed  the  staff  beside  her.  The  incubus  soon  arrived, 
dared  not  approach  the  bed,  but  furiously  threatened  the  poor 
creature  that  her  punishment  should  commence  so  soon  as  the 
saint  departed.  The  Sabbath  approached;  the  man  of  God  de- 
sired that  all  the  community  should  be  called  to  the  church  by 
the  bishop's  proclamation.  Accordingly,  on  that  day,  a  vast 
multitude  assembled  in  the  church.  St.  Bernard,  followed  by 
two  bishops,  Geoffrey  of  Chartres,  and  Bricton  of  Nantes, 
mounted  the  gallery,  and  desired  that  all  the  attendants  should 
hold  lighted  tapers  in  their  hands.  Himself,  the  bishops,  and 
other  clergy  having  so  done,  he  publicly  exposed  the  unheard-of 
and  audacious  acts  of  the  demon;  then,  aided  by  the  prayers  of 
all  the  faithful  present,  he  publicly  anathematized  the  unclean 
spirit,  and  forbade  him,  by  the  authority  of  Christ,  ever  to  ap- 
proach either  that  or  any  other  woman.  All  the  sacred  tapers 
being  then  extinguished,  the  power  of  the  demon  departed  with 
9 


130  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

tlieir  light.     The  unhappy  woman  communed  after  having  con- 
fessed, and  her  enemy  never  dared  reappear.* 

Case  LIII.  Jeanne  Harvilliers,  a  native  of  Verberie,  near 
Compeigne,  accused  of  homicide  and  witchcraft,  was  brought  be- 
fore the  magistrate.  She  confessed  that,  at  her  birth,  her  mother 
had  offered  her  to  Satan,  and  that,  since  the  age  of  twelve,  the 
devil,  in  the  form  of  a  great  black  man,  clothed  in  black  cloth, 
booted  and  spurred,  having  an  invisible  horse  at  the  door,  had 
visited  her  constantly.  The  peasantry  loudly  clamored  for  her 
death  ;  but  the  judges  caused  inquiry  to  be  made  at  Verberie, 
her  birthplace,  and  at  other  villages  where  she  had  lived.  It 
appeared  that,  thirty  years  before,  she  had  been  whipped  for 
sorcery,  and  that  her  mother  was  burned  for  a  witch. 

She  admitted  these  facts,  and  owned  to  having  invoked  Satan 
to  remove  a  spell  which  she  had  laid  on  an  enemy,  which  he  re- 
fused to  do.  She  finished  by  asking  mercy  and  forgiveness. 
The  judges  were  much  embarrassed  to  know  what  punishment  to 
award.  Some  were  for  burning;  some  for  hanging.  The  for- 
mer prevailed.  She  was  burnt  alive  on  the  last  day  of  April, 
1578,  on  the  prosecution  of  Claude  d'Offai,  king's  counsel  at 
Ribemont.  After  her  condemnation,  she  owned  to  having  used 
ointments  that  the  devil  had  given  her  ;  said  that  she  had  at- 
tended the  witch's  sabbath  ;  and  had  been  united  to  Beelzebub. 
She  said  the  devil  gave  no  money,  and  concluded  by  accusing  a 
shepherd  and  a  slater  of  Senlis  of  sorcery. f 

According  to  authors  who  have  written  on  this  subject,  the 
object  of  Satan  was  to  cause  the  commission  of  the  greatest 
crimes,  for  which  he  made  himself  either  man  or  woman. | 

Coelius  Aurelianus  states,  after  Salimaque,  the  partisan  of  the 
doctrines  of  Hippocrates,  that  incubes  appeared  in  Rome  as  a 
contagious  disease,  of  which  many  died.§ 

*  Vie  de  Saint  Beruard,  Collections  des  Mémoires  relatifs  â  l'histoire 
de  France,  translated  by  M.  Guizot.  At  that  period,  religion  alone  could 
remedy  evils  against  which  science  was  powerless. 

t  J.  Garrinet,  Histoire  de  la  Magie  en  France,  1816,  p.  133. 

X  Ibid. 

§  Coelius  Aurelianus,  chronic  morb.  liv.  1,  chap.  iii.  de  Incubone,  Lyon, 
1567.  Ilorst.  Damonomanie,  oder  Geschichte  des  Glaubens  an  Zaïiberei 
iind  diimonische  Wunder  mit  besonderer  Beriicksichtigung  des  Ilexenpro- 
zesses  seit  den  Zeiten  Innocentiis  viii.  Frankf.  1828.  Friedreich  Litteratur- 
geschichte  de  path,  und  Ther.  de  psych.  Krank.  p.  127. 


HALLUCINATIONS  IN  THE  ORDER  OF  THEIR  FREQUENCY.   131 

In  our  days,  cohabitation  "witli  the  devil  is  much  rarer  than 
it  formerly  was  ;  amongst  the  many  hundred  insane  who  have 
come  under  our  notice,  we  have  not  had  one  authentic  case 
of  the  kind.  Hallucinations  of  this  nature  have  had  more 
especially  for  their  objects,  angels,  men  whose  attractions  were 
heightened  by  imagination,  and  often  the  heads  of  the  establish- 
ment.    M.  Macario  has  given  several  examples. 

Case  LIV.  Marguerite  G.  is  a  tall  woman,  fifty-nine  years  of 
age,  thin  and  withered,  with  a  laughing  countenance.  She  has 
ever  been  devout  and  pious,  passing  all  her  leisure  time  in  the 
church  or  churchyard,  praying  for  the  repose  of  sinners.  She 
came  to  Mareville  on  the  7th  of  April,  1842. 

This  poor  woman,  at  the  crisis  of  her  life,  became  deranged. 
She  imbibed  a  hatred  for  her  parents,  believing  that  they  sought 
to  poison  her;  but  happily,  she  said,  for  the  prevention  of  their 
culpable  design,  three  curés,  as  pure  as  the  sun,  came  to  reside 
near  her  to  keep  guard  over  her.  Whenever  poisoned  food  was 
presented  to  her,  they  warned  her  not  to  eat  it.  These  curés 
watched  her  by  turns.  Her  parents,  perceiving  that  in  conse- 
quence they  could  not  succeed  with  the  poison,  sought  infernal 
aid,  and  raised  the  demons  against  her,  who,  she  added,  pursued 
and  tormented  her  night  and  day. 

But  God  afflicts  those  only  whom  he  loves.  Four  times  in  the 
day  he  inspired  her  with  his  grace — in  the  morning,  at  noon,  at 
four  in  the  afternoon,  and  on  going  to  rest.  Thus,  when  the 
demons  appeared,  she  raised  her  hand,  uttering  the  benediction, 
which  drove  off  these  malign  spirits  hastily  ;  but  immediately 
legions  took  their  place  to  torment  her.  She  repeated  the  bene- 
dictions, the  demons  fled  ;  and  in  the  constant  repetition  of  this 
scene,  the  night  Avas  spent,  so  that  she  could  not  obtain  any  rest. 
At  times,  they  were  not  infernal  spirits  who  came  to  torment  her; 
hideous  corpses  appeared  in  her  chamber,  spoke  to  her  in  mourn- 
ful and  sepulchral  voices,  and  stretched  out  their  arms  to  strike 
her  ;  but  Marguerite  would  make  a  noise,  and  then  they  disap- 
peared in  smoke.  They  would  soon,  however,  come  back  ;  she 
would  recommence  her  noise,  and  so  on  until  dawn. 

During  the  day  she  was  more  calm  and  tranquil.  During  the 
night  she  prayed  for  the  appearance  of  the  sun's  rays.  She  then 
became  drowsy,  and  in  her  sleep,  God  and  the  Blessed  Virgin 


132  ON  IIALLUCINATIOXS. 

appeared  to  her  in  dreams,  exhorting  her  to  patience  and  consol- 
ing her.* 

The  cases  which  we  have  related,  prove  that  there  are  insane 
persons  who  believe  thej  have  sexual  intercourse  with  the  devil  ; 
but,  in  the  greater  number  of  instances,  the  figures  are  clothed 
in  the  human  form.t 

Case  LV.  Madame  B.  is  convinced  that  she  is  about  to  marry 
a  noble  and  powerful  man,  who  has  all  her  sympathies.  Preoc- 
cupied with  this  idea,  she  thinks  nothing  of  her  real  husband. 
She  tells  me  that  she  receives,  nightly,  visits  from  the  angel 
Raphael,  a  handsome  blonde,  pale,  and  dressed  in  black,  who 
speaks  to  her  in  the  most  gracious  manner.  The  attendants 
quickly  remove  her  mattress,  as  if  to  seek  a  man  beneath. 

Case  LVI.  Mademoiselle  R.  sees  persons  to  whom  she  speaks, 
and  who  address  her.  She  is,  moreover,  constantly  attended  by 
her  friend,  whose  love  makes  her  the  happiest  of  women.  Ill- 
conditioned  persons,  whose  aim  may  be  understood,  are  constantly 
engaged  in  spreading  disagreeable  smells  around  her,  and  give 
her  detestable  hot  dishes,  fit  to  poison  her.  They  beat  her  and 
bruise  her  arms.  She  frequently  sees  the  people  of  the  house 
with  the  head  of  a  dog,  a  wolf,  or  of  a  rhinoceros.  The  figures 
are  incessantly  changing,  or  growing  indistinct.  She  has  a  kind 
of  ecstasy  in  which  she  sees  angels.  Esquirol,  who  examined 
her,  fifteen  years  since,  in  concert  with  Alibert  and  ourselves, 
decided  that  she  had  hallucinations  of  all  the  senses,  and  illusions. 

Ca&'E  LVII.  Mademoiselle  Z.,  aged  seventeen,  was  brought  to 
our  house  in  consequence  of  a  derangement  caused  by  a  love 
affair.  Her  symptoms  appeared  three  days  previously.  Her 
countenance  expresses  the  intoxication  of  happiness  ;  her  friend 
does  not  leave  her  ;  he  follows  her  everywhere,  and  is  prodigal 
of  tender  appellations  ;  if  he  is  about  to  depart  she  kneels,  begs 
him  to  forgive  her,  and  entreats  him  not  to  give  her  up  to  de- 
spair. She  sees  him  in  the  clouds;  he  is  crowned  with  roses, 
and  smiles  sweetly  on  her. 

One  of  the  most  interesting  scenes  is,  when  she  sings  to  her 
lover  the  romance  of  la  Folle.  So  great  is  the  interest  excited 
that  old  patients,  who  have  been  for  ten  years  in  the  asylum, 

*  Macario,  op.  cit. 

t  Jules  Garrinet,  Histoire  de  la  Magie  en  France,  p.  31. 


HALLUCINATIONS  IN  THE  ORDER  OF  THEIR  FREQUENCY.      133 

group  themselves  around,  and  listen  with  evident  pleasure. 
Never  was  the  part  of  Nina  played  with  more  truth  and  talent. 
It  is  the  only  time  for  twenty  years  in  which  I  have  seen  a  case 
of  amorous  madness  that  would  serve  as  a  theatrical  model.  The 
symptoms  which  almost  always  accompany  this  form  of  insanity 
render  exact  imitation  almost  impossible. 

In  order  to  exhibit  his  tenderness,  her  lover  brings  her  bou- 
quets, and  makes  her  inhale  the  most  delicious  perfumes.  "See 
these  roses!"  she  cries;  "the  room  is  filled  with  their  fragrance." 
Her  discourse  and  looks  have  nothing  wandering;  they  are  all 
addressed  to  the  same  person.  Indeed,  she  is  quite  an  object 
for  study.  So  entirely  are  her  thoughts  concentrated,  that  it  is 
difficult  to  obtain  any  words  from  her.  Her  excitement  subsid- 
ing, she  again  hears  the  voice  of  him  whom  she  loves.  But  her 
reason  soon  returned,  the  hallucinations  ceased,  and,  after  eight 
days  of  retirement,  all  the  symptoms  disappeared. 

Nostalgic  monomania  occurs  very  seldom  in  lunatic  asylums; 
but  numerous  examples  are  given  by  writers.  In  their  delirium, 
the  unhappy  beings  see  their  country,  their  fireside,  their  pa- 
rents, and  their  friends;  with  smiling  lips,  and  joy  in  their  coun- 
tenances, they  converse  with  invisible  beings,  to  whom  they  ex- 
press all  the  pleasure  they  experience  in  seeing  them.* 

We  attended  a  paralytic  madman  whose  words  were  almost 
unintelligible,  and  who,  at  home,  had  transports  of  fury.  So 
soon  as  he  was  separated  from  his  family,  he  refused  all  kinds  of 
nourishment;  would  not  allow  any  one  to  come  near  him;  and 
uttered  horrible  cries.  For  eight  days  he  maintained  a  rigorous 
abstinence.  Convinced  that  a  return  home  would  alone  save  him, 
we  wrote  to  his  wife.  As  soon  as  he  saw  her,  he  consented  to 
take  some  broth,  and  that  man,  who  had  just  before  appeared 
dying,  had  strength  enough  to  walk  to  the  carriage,  supported 
by  only  one  person. 

Hallucinations  and  illusions  almost  always  accompany  calen- 
tura,  a  febrile  malady  peculiar  to  mariners.  In  fact,  the  irre- 
sistible desire  that  leads  them  to  leap  into  the  sea  is  occasioned 

*  See  Castelnau's  Considérations  sur  la  Nostalgie,  Paris,  1806. — An- 
dresse,  Dissert,  inaug.  psychica-nostalgiae,  adumbratio  pathologica,  Berol. 
Beauchamp. — Mémoire  de  la  Société  Médic.  d'émul.  Paris,  1798. — Pelle- 
grini, De  Nostalgia,  in  Orteschi,  Diario  Medico,  t.  iv.  p.  372. 


134  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

by  the  fact  that  that  element  appears  to  them  like  a  plain  of 
green  turf  enamelled  with  flowers  ;  they  are  eager  to  tread  the 
fertile,  fresh,  and  lovely  fields,  in  which  their  imagination  paints 
the  shade  and  perfume  of  the  most  delicious  groves.  On  other 
occasions,  it  is  to  escape  from  painful  ideas  or  fantastic  appari- 
tions that  they  try  to  quit  the  vessel. 

The  madness  of  drunkards  is  almost  always  united  with 
hallucinations  and  illusions  ;  the  interest  which  attaches  to  this 
variety  of  insanity  has  tempted  us  to  give  it  a  special  chapter, 
the  more  so  as  it  may  take  on  many  different  forms  of  madness. 

Vampirism  and  lycanthropy,  which,  several  centuries  ago,  as- 
sumed the  form  of  an  epidemic,  had  also  for  their  epiphenomena 
hallucinations  and  illusions.  The  other  varieties  of  monomania 
may  present  this  symptom  ;  but  the  species  on  which  we  have 
dwelt  appear  to  be  most  frequent.  We  have  said  enough  to  pre- 
vent the  necessity  of  entering  more  into  detail. 

Recapitulation. — Hallucinations  seem  to  prefer  the  form  of 
monomania  ;  they  are  most  easily  detected  in  this  kind  of  deli- 
rium. Hallucinations  of  hearing  and  of  sight  are  most  common; 
then  follow  those  of  touch,  taste,  and  smell,  which  are  much  less 
common.     They  rarely  exist  alone. 

Lypemania,  demonology,  erotomania,  nostalgia,  and  calentura, 
frequently  present  the  same  combination. 

Hallucinations  in  monomania  are  in  accordance  with  the  cause, 
the  nature  of  the  evil,  and  the  character  of  the  ideas  and  the 
passions  exhibited  by  the  individual. 

Hallucinations  of  demonomania  are  common,  and  much  more 
frequent  than  Esquirol  believed  ;  the  incubus  occurs  in  some 
cases  of  madness. 

Sexual  hallucinations  arise  from  exaggerated  hysteric  symp- 
toms, and,  in  a  great  many  instances,  are  occasioned  by  uterine 
derangement. 

Hallucinations  have  frequently  put  on  the  character  of  an 
epidemic  in  certain  varieties  of  monomania. 

Illusions  often  accompany  hallucinations  in  monomania. 

Hallucinations  do  not  develop  themselves  with  equal  facility 
in  all  kinds  of  monomania. 


CHAPTER    VI. 

ON  HALLUCINATIONS  IN  STUPOR. 

The  greater  number  of  persons  affected  with  stupor  have  hallucinations  and  illu- 
sions— Symptomatology — Arrangement  of  hallucinations  and  illusions  in  some 
patients — Cases  of  stupor — Remarks  on  this  malady — Recapitulation. 

There  are  some  lunatics,  wlio,  like  statues,  appear  to  com- 
prehend nothing  that  is  passing  around  them  ;  with  fixed  eyes 
and  gaping  mouth,  they  might  be  taken  for  idiots.  Georget  has 
given  the  name  of  stupor  to  this  particular  kind  of  madness, 
Avhich  Esquirol  looked  on  as  a  variety  of  dementia  (acute  de- 
mentia) ;  and  M.  Baillarger  as  the  highest  degree  of  a  variety  of 
hypochondria. 

M.  Etoc,  in  an  excellent  dissertation  which  he  published  on 
this  malady  in  1833,*  remarked  that  insane  persons  had  hallu- 
cinations, but  that  they  were  confused  and  misty.  M.  Baillarger 
has  given  more  circumstantial  details  relative  to  the  errors  of 
sensations  observable  in  insane  stupor. f  According  to  this 
author,  everything  that  surrounds  them  is  transformed.  They 
are  a  prey  to  all  kinds  of  hallucinations  and  illusions  ;  among 
others  that  they  are  inhabitants  of  a  desert  ;  that  they  live  in  a 
house  of  ill  fame  ;  that  they  reside  in  a  foreign  country  ;  that 
they  are  condemned  to  the  galleys  or  to  prison.  Some  mistake 
a  bath-house  for  hell  ;  the  baths  for  boats  ;  a  blister  mark  for  the 
brand  of  a  convict  ;  lunatics  for  the  dead  revived,  for  prisoners, 
for  prostitutes,  for  disguised  soldiers,  and  women  for  men. 
Others  see  hideous  and  menacing  faces  ;  it  seems  to  them  that 
everybody  is  drunk.  They  perceive  around  them  carriages  laden 
with  cofiins,  and  their  relations  undergoing  punishments  ;  they 

*  De  la  Stupidité  chez  les  Aliénés,  in  4to.  Paris,  1833. 
t  De  l'état  designé  chez  les  aliénés  sous  le  nom  de  stupidité,  Annales 
Méd.  PsijchoL,  Nos.  1  and  2,  Paris,  1843. 


136 


ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 


see  shadows,  craters,  fathomless  abysses,  and  subterranean  pit- 
falls. 

Others,  again,  hear  alarming  words  ;  they  are  menaced  with 
death,  and  with  flames;  they  hear  insults;  their  beds  are  filled 
with  noises  of  bells  and  drums  ;  guns  are  fired  around  them  ; 
their  friends  struggle  with  enemies,  and  implore  their  aid.  Some 
being  interrogated  on  all  the  actions  of  their  lives,  reply  that 
they  hear  the  noise  of  a  machine  with  which  infants  are  tor- 
tured; their  bodies  are  perforated  with  balls,  and  their  blood 
flows  on  the  earth  ;  some  one  is  on  their  breast,  smothering 
them. 

In  this  description,  we  must  recognize  the  highest  degree  of 
melancholic  monomania. 

In  the  nine  cases  which  the  paper  of  M.  Baillarger  contains, 
hallucinations  and  illusions  are  distributed  in  the  following 
manner  : — 


Hallucinations  of  hearing  and  sight 

.     4 

"         "             sight 

.     2 

"         «             smell 

2 

"         "             taste 

.     1 

"         "             touch 

.     1 

Illusions  of  hearing  and  sight 

.    4 

"             sight          .... 

.     4 

"             taste 

.     2 

"             smell          .... 

.     1 

The  hallucinations  were  almost  always  mingled  with  illusions. 
In  two  cases,  there  were  illusions  only  ;  in  one,  hallucinations 
occurred  alone.  None  of  these  cases  presented  hallucinations 
and  illusions  of  all  the  senses.  In  three  out  of  six  cases  of 
stupor,  Messrs.  Aubanel  and  There  have  noticed  hallucinations. 

A  number  of  actions  apparently  automatic,  or  without  con- 
nection with  exterior  objects,  were  explained  afterwards  as  due 
to  the  influence  of  hallucinations  and  illusions — another  argu- 
ment in  favor  of  the  opinion  that  the  strangest  acts  performed 
by  monomaniacs,  and,  above  all,  by  maniacs,  are  always  caused 
by  a  hallucination  or  an  illusion. 

Case  LVIII. — Mademoiselle  R.,  aged  thirty,  a  religious  no- 
vice, entered  the  Salpétrière  on  the  12th  of  July,  1842,  under 


HALLUCINATIONS  IN  STUPOR.*  137 

the  care  of  M.  Mitivié.  On  his  visit,  he  found  the  patient  in 
the  following  state:  She  was  standing,  immovable;  her  counte- 
nance was  sad  and  heavy  ;  her  eyes  wide  open  and  fixed  :  "  I 
vainly  endeavored,"  says  the  author,  "  to  obtain  a  few  words 
from  her.  It  might  be  supposed  that  she  either  did  not  hear,  or 
did  not  comprehend  what  I  said.  She  refused  food.  Her  eyes 
were  often  slowly  and  mechanically  turned  towards  the  door  ;  on 
placing  her  in  bed,  she  recommenced  the  same  action.  She  ap- 
peared to  pay  no  attention  to  what  was  passing  around  her. 

"  Towards  the  close  of  the  month,  a  remarkable  change  took 
place  ;  she  spoke  long,  and  with  facility  ;  her  countenance  be- 
came animated,  and  her  ideas  sparkling.  There  was  no  longer 
occasion  to  interrogate  her;  she  took  the  lead  in  questioning. 
Yesterday  she  was  visited  by  the  Sisters  of  St.  Antoine's  Hos- 
pital, who,  she  said,  had  been  very  useful  in  giving  clearness  to 
her  ideas.     From  that  time  her  cure  was  completed. 

"  The  treatment  was  baths,  a  douche,  and  occupation.  The 
following  is  the  account  Mademoiselle  R.  gave  me  of  her  in- 
tellectual state  during  her  malady  : — 

"She  had  no  idea  of  being  in  a  hospital;  the  women  who 
surrounded  her  she  imagined  to  be  disgiiised  soldiers  (a  very 
common  illusion  with  women,  and  which  is  only  a  symptom  of 
uterine  excitability).  When  she  was  taken  to  the  bath,  in  which 
were  several  other  patients,  she  attempted  to  drown  herself  to 
escape  the  violence  of  the  imaginary  soldiers.  All  the  faces  she 
saw  were  hideous  and  menacing  ;  it  seemed  as  if  everybody  was 
intoxicated.  She  thought  that  Paris  was  given  up  to  fire  and 
slaughter,  and  that  all  the  nuns  were  strangled.  Every  instant 
she  expected  a  similar  fate.  She  thought  the  floor  concealed  a 
vast  trap,  into  which  she  feared  to  fall.  The  noise  which  was 
made  in  scrubbing  the  boards  became  to  her  that  of  a  saw  Ayhich 
they  were  using  to  raze  the  house  ;  she  dreaded  to  see  a  vast 
fire  burst  out.  Of  all  that  she  heard,  she  could  only  remember 
these  words,  '  We  must  hill  her,  ive  must  hum  her,'  etc.  She 
had  a  constant  buzzing  in  her  ears,  which  prevented  her  hearing 
what  was  said.  A  low  voice  asked  her  the  particulars  of  her 
life,  and  she  replied  to  it;  she  refused  to  eat,  fearing  she  Avould 
be  poisoned. 

"  Mademoiselle   R.  had   short  lucid  intervals  ;  but  she  soon 
fell  back  into  stupor  ;  she  seemed  to  have  a  bandage  over  her 


138  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

eyes.  She  believed  that  her  cure  was  effected  by  a  cold  water 
douche,  which  acted  so  powerfully  as  to  make  her  cry  out. 

"  She  subsequently  described  the  state  from  which  she  had 
recovered  with  considerable  force  of  expression.  '  She  could  not 
compare  it,'  she  said,  '  to  anything  but  a  bad  dream.'  " 

Case  LIX. — M.  B.,  twenty-five  years  of  age,  principal  in  a 
government  office,  was  brought  to  Charenton  on  the  12th  of  Au- 
gust, 1833. 

On  two  different  occasions  he  had  been  attacked  with  parox- 
ysms of  mental  alienation.  The  first  symptoms  of  the  last 
attack  appeared  to  be  those  of  violent  frenzy.  On  entering, 
M.  B.  was  pale  ;  his  eyes  fixed  ;  his  countenance  had  lost  all 
expression,  and  denoted  profound  stupor.  He  remained  the 
entire  day  in  one  place  perfectly  dumb,  and  appeared  indifferent 
to  all  that  surrounded  him.  Memory  seemed  entirely  gone. 
His  stupor  was  such  that  we  were  obliged  to  force  him  to  eat  ; 
and  he  was  so  unclean  that  we  were  forced  to  substitute  a  long 
linen  blouse  for  his  clothes. 

A  blister  on  the  nape  of  the  neck  produced  favorable  results  ; 
and  towards  the  end  of  December  he  was  completely  cured. 

The  state  in  which  M.  B.  remained,  during  three  months,  can 
be  best  described  by  comparing  it  to  a  long  dream.  He  said 
that  everything  around  him  was  transformed.  He  believed  in  a 
universal  annihilation.  The  ground  trembled  and  opened  under 
his  feet  ;  every  moment  he  felt  on  the  point  of  being  engulfed  in 
its  fathomless  abysses.  When  he  held  on  to  persons  near  to  him, 
it  was  in  order  to  prevent  their  falling  down  the  precipices,  that 
resembled  the  craters  of  volcanoes.  M.  B.  took  the  bath-room 
for  hell  (for  which  reason  he  resisted  entering  it),  and  the  baths 
for  boats.  He  thought  that  all  who  were  with  him  were  drown- 
ing. It  seemed  to  him  that  his  blood  had  never  ceased  to  flow 
on  the  ground  since  he  was  bled.  The  blister  which  was  placed 
on  his  neck  was  the  brand  of  a  convict,  and  he  thought  himself 
disgraced  forever  by  this  mark  of  infamy.  He  could  not  under- 
stand who  all  the  strange  people  were  by  whom  he  was  sur- 
rounded, but  finally  concluded  that  they  were  resuscitated  corpses. 
He  saw  his  brother  in  the  midst  of  torments  ;  and  heard  inces- 
santly the  cries  of  his  parents  who  were  being  strangled,  and 
who  implored  his  aid.  Above  all  was  heard  the  voice  of  his 
uncle,  who  Avas  his  benefactor.     Every  shriek  was  a  dagger  to 


HALLUCINATIONS  IN  STUPOR.  189 

liim.  Fire-arms  were  discharged  all  around  him;  balls  pierced 
him  through  without  harming  him,  but  killed  other  persons.  In 
his  mind  all  was  chaos,  confusion,  destruction.  He  no  longer 
distinguished  day  and  night;  months  seemed  years;  he  accused 
himself  of  all  the  evil  that  was  done,  and  therefore  attempted 
several  times  to  destroy  himself. 

The  memoir  of  M.  Baillarger  contains  a  number  of  instances 
of  stupor;  but  we  fear  that  this  physician  has  confounded  the 
state  of  immobility,  very  frequent  in  hypochondriacs,  with  real 
stupor  ;  and  that,  with  him,  the  appearance  has,  in  some  cases, 
been  taken  for  the  reality.  In  this  case,  he  has  only  fol- 
lowed the  example  of  many  estimable  men,  who,  in  their  works 
on  typhoid  fever,  rank  with  that  grievous  complaint  certain  mor- 
bid states  that  have  only  a  delusive  appearance  of  analogy  to  it. 
With  this  exception,  M.  Baillarger's  work  has  thrown  a  new  light 
on  this  form  of  mental  disease,  and  shown  that  this  malady  is 
principally  characterized  by  numerous  hallucinations  and  illu- 
sions, which  form  an  imaginary  world  for  the  patient. 

Dr.  Delasiauve*  opposes  the  opinion  of  M.  Baillarger,  and 
considers  stupor  as  a  peculiar  state.  According  to  him,  hallu- 
cinations are  a  consequence  of  stupor,  the  result  of  obtuseness  of 
the  intellect,  and  not  the  result  of  melancholic  preoccupation. 

In  the  article  "Stupor,"  contained  in  the  Supplément  au  Dic- 
tionnaire des  Dictionnaires  de  3Iêdecine,  we  have  observed  that 
the  malady,  like  sleep,  can  have  two  different  states,  the  one  cha- 
racterized hj  a  complete  suspension  of  the  mind,  and  the  other 
by  the  existence  of  dreams. 

Recapitulation. — Stupor,  successively  considered  as  a  new 
state,  a  variety  of  madness,  and  the  highest  degree  of  a  variety 
of  hypochondria,  is  almost  always  accompanied  by  hallucinations 
and  illusions. 

In  the  cases  cited,  hallucinations  and  illusions  were  constantly 
observed  ;  most  generally  they  were  combined.  In  three  cases, 
one  alone  existed. 

The  most  usual  form  was  that  which  occurred  with  derange- 
ment of  the  organs  of  sight  and  hearing. 

In  almost  all  the  examples  furnished,  the  conduct,  actions,  and 

*  Du  diagnostic  différentielle  de  la  Lypemanie,  published  in  the  Annales 
Mtdico- Psychologiques,  Juillet,  1851. 


140  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

whimsicalities  of  the  afflicted  were  explained  by  hallucinations 
or  illusions. 

The  errors  of  the  senses,  so  numerous  and  of  such  varied 
character,  to  which  these  insane  persons  are  subject,  create  for 
them  a  special  and  imaginary  world. 


CHAPTER    VII. 

ON  HALLUCINATIONS  IN  MANIA. 

Ou  the  frequency  of  hallucinations  in  mania — Why  ? — Abstract  of  hallucinations 
in  mania — Cases — Observations  on  the  inclination  to  steal — Progress  of  hallu- 
cinations— Hallucinations  may  be  symptomatic — Remarks  on  the  influence  of 
the  sexual  organs — Hallucinations  in  puerperal  mania — Effects  of  hallucina- 
tions and  illusions  on  maniacs — Recapitulation. 

The  rapidity  with  which  thoughts,  recollections,  and  objects 
succeed  each  other  in  the  mind  of  the  maniac  ;  the  difficulty  he 
finds  in  making  comparisons,  and  fixing  his  attention,  must  pow- 
erfully unite  to  favor  the  production  of  hallucinations  and  illu- 
sions. 

This  combination  is,  therefore,  very  usual  in  mania.  Messrs. 
Aubanel  and  There  have  computed  that  54  out  of  181  maniacs 
had  hallucinations.     In  the  cases  they  noticed. 


Illusions  of 

sight 

occurred 

9  times. 

u 

hearing 

a 

7     " 

Hallucinations 

of  hearing 

a 

23     " 

sight 

11 

21     " 

taste 

a 

5     " 

touch 

a 

2     " 

smell 

u 

1  time. 

the  internals  " 

2  times 

None  of  these  were  cases  of  hallucination  of  all  the  senses. 
These  physicians  truly  remark  that  the  number  must  be  greater, 
since  many  hallucinations  escape  notice  in  the  midst  of  maniacal 
excitement,  and  by  consequence  of  the  other  disturbances  in  the 
midst  of  which  they  exist. 

Of  the  maniacs  in  our  establishment  at  our  last  census, 


142  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

2  had  hallucinations  of  hearing  and  sight. 

3  "  "  hearing. 

2  "  "  sight,  and  illusions  of  the  same  sense. 

It  will  be  perceived  that  all  our  maniacs  had  either  illusions 
or  hallucinations.  Although  we  cannot  draw  conclusions  from 
so  small  a  number,  yet  incessant  observation  authorizes  us  to 
believe  that  the  proportion  is  considerable. 

Case  LX. — M.  P.,  aged  thirty-nine,  tall,  fair-skinned,  with  a 
highly  developed  muscular  system,  and  a  temperament  lymphatic- 
sanguine,  was  remarkable  for  a  large  and  high  forehead,  and  in- 
telligent countenance.  He  spoke  several  languages.  His  apti- 
tude in  business  gained  him  a  well-merited  reputation  ;  his  only 
fault  being  an  excessive  confidence  in  his  talents,  and  a  belief 
that  he  could  do  anything. 

For  twenty  years,  he  managed  one  of  the  first  houses  of  busi- 
ness in  his  native  city  with  so  much  success  that  the  principal 
retired  on  a  large  fortune,  leaving  him  to  direct  the  establish- 
ment. All  thought  that  he  had  obtained  the  summit  of  his 
desires,  when  it  became  evident  that  his  conduct  was  no  longer 
the  same  ;  he  entered  into  commercial  speculations  which  dif- 
fered greatly  from  those  he  carried  on  as  an  equal  partner  with 
his  former  principal,  and  employed  in  them  considerable  sums. 
These  speculations,  which  put  a  stop  to  the  chance  of  making  a 
rapid  fortune,  were  not  conducted  with  the  talent  which  he  had 
heretofore  exhibited.  Warm  discussions  took  place  between  the 
two  merchants,  and  they  agreed  finally  that  neither  should  act 
separately.  Notwithstanding  this  solemn  promise,  Mr.  P.  con- 
tinued to  act  on  his  own  account,  alleging  in  his  justification 
that  he  was  sure  of  his  game,  and  would  return  capital  and 
interest. 

Here  we  may  introduce  a  highly  interesting  observation.  It 
frequently  happens  that  a  man  noted  for  probity  and  integrity 
becomes  dishonest,  embezzles,  and  robs  ;  then  there  is  wonder 
and  indignation  ;  and  the  reprehensible  acts  are  punished.  The 
unhappy  being  has  undoubtedly  expiated  in  a  prison  the  fault  of 
a  disease.  Facts  of  this  nature  have  so  often  been  presented  to 
us,  that  we  would  call  the  special  attention  of  magistrates  to  this 
form  of  derangement.  A  patient  was  recommended  to  us  by 
Dr.  Ollivier  d'Angers  ;  it  was  necessary  to  ascertain  whether  he 


HALLUCINATIONS  IN  MANIA.  143 

was  really  insane,  for,  in  examining  his  accounts,  there  was 
found  a  defalcation  of  10,000  francs.  His  family,  much  alarmed, 
hastened  to  indemnify  the  plaintiffs..  An  examination  of  two 
months  left  us  no  doubt  on  the  subject  ;  it  was  a  case  of  insanity, 
with  paralysis.  The  embezzlements  took  place  during  the  growth 
of  the  disease.  C,  during  his  employ  in  a  banking-house,  had 
a  tremendous  fall,  and  struck  his  head;  but  he  was  able  to  re- 
sume his  occupation.  On  proving  the  accounts,  a  deficit  of 
several  thousand  francs  was  discovered  ;  on  account  of  his  capa- 
city and  probity  the  prosecution  was  discontinued  ;  he  was  dis- 
missed. Sometime  afterwards  he  was  placed  under  my  care. 
I  observed  a  general  paralysis,  without  other  derangement  of 
the  faculties  than  a  weakness  of  memory;  his  one  fixed  idea  was 
to  return  to  his  situation,  where  he  said  he  was  expected.  As 
in  the  preceding  case,  all  that  occurred  during  the  growth  of  the 
disease  had  faded  from  his  remembrance.  The  man  is  still 
moving  about  ;   but  his  mind  is  irrevocably  destroyed. 

Thus,  when  a  man  whose  conduct  has  always  been  irreproach- 
able, changes  his  habits  and  commits  eccentric  and  reprehensible 
acts,  he  should  be  carefully  watched,  never  lost  sight  of;  and 
often,  at  the  end  of  a  few  months,  more  or  less,  a  mental  derange- 
ment will  appear,  which,  in  most  cases,  exhibits  itself  in  insanity 
accompanied  by  general  paralysis. 

The  merchant  who  patronized  Mr.  P.  was  much  surprised  at 
his  conduct.  But,  as  he  was  under  great  obligations  to  him, 
and  had  taken  due  precaution  to  ward  off  any  unfavorable  re- 
sult, he  contented  himself  with  watching  him.  The  mystery 
was  soon  explained  ;  Mr.  P.  was  seized  with  a  violent  attack  of 
mania,  that  lasted  fifteen  days.  His  recovery  was  rapid,  and 
apparently  entire  ;  one  only  of  his  near  kinsmen,  who  watched 
him  closely,  observed  that  his  ideas  were  neither  so  clear  nor 
forcible  as  formerly,  whilst  his  self-esteem  was  augmented. 

Mr.  P.  returned  to  his  business,  without  resigning  his  hazard- 
ous speculations.  More  than  once  they  must  have  caused  him 
bitter  regret.  Probably,  he  was  himself  conscious  of  the  change 
in  his  intellectual  powers,  and  was  much  affected  by  the  circum- 
stance, for  a  fresh  and  more  violent  attack  came  on  towards  the 
close  of  September,  the  description  of  which,  as  given  by  his 
relative,  will  never  be  effaced  from  my  mind. 


144  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

"  I  was,"  said  he,  "alone  in  the  country  with  Mr.  P.  and  his 
wife,  when  the  attack  came  on  ;  our  house  was  far  from  any 
habitation.  For  several  hours  he  wandered  about  restlessly, 
opening  and  shutting  doors  violently  ;  every  instant  added  to  his 
fury.  Suddenly,  he  exclaimed  that  he  was  God.  '  Kneel  down!' 
he  continued,  in  a  terrible  voice,  and  with  an  inflamed  counte- 
nance. '  I  will,  I  obey,  because  I  know  it  is  God  who  com- 
mands.' '  That  is  well,  get  up.  Now  lie  down  on  the  bed,  that 
I  may  operate  on  you.'  He  then  passed  his  hands  over  my  en- 
tire person,  tickling  the  soles  of  my  feet.  If  I  moved,  he  said  : 
'You  have  no  patience;  I  must  begin  again.'  I  took  care  not 
to  exhibit  any  signs  of  fear,  and  to  all  his  commands,  I  replied  : 
'I  obey,  since  God  ordains  it.' 

"  This  frightful  scene  lasted  for  four  hours.  Flight  was  im- 
possible, for  he  had  taken  care  to  close  all  the  doors  ;  besides 
which,  he  was  too  strong  for  me.  At  length  the  crisis  arrived  : 
'  I  must  kill  you  !'  he  cried,  in  accents  of  fury  which  it  is  impos- 
sible to  describe.  It  was  no  longer  time  to  temporize.  I  sprang 
up  and  grappled  him.  The  struggle  was  terrible.  He  bit  me 
till  my  blood  flowed  in  torrents  ;  and  roared  out  in  his  rage, 
calling  me  Satan.  My  strength  began  to  fail  ;  I  was  on  the 
point  of  yielding  to  the  power  of  a  furious  madman  ;  but  an 
idea  struck  me  as  by  inspiration.  'My  friend,'  said  I,  'God 
commands  me  to  obey  you  ;  but  let  me  place  robes  around  you, 
in  order  to  render  you  the  homage  that  is  your  due.' 

"  The  words  were  hardly  pronounced,  when  he  unclasped  his 
hold,  became  calm,  and  assisted  in  the  execution  of  the  idea  that 
had  so  happily  occurred  to  me.  I  bound  him  with  cords,  nap- 
kins, and  sheets,  with  the  aid  of  his  wife,  whom  also  he  would  have 
sacrificed.  Thus  situated,  he  tried  to  rise  ;  when,  comprehend- 
ing that  he  was  bound,  his  transports  of  fury  were  so  violent, 
that,  if  several  men  had  not  run  to  our  assistance,  the  results 
would  have  been  dreadful." 

When  Mr.  P.  was  brought  to  my  establishment,  he  still  bore 
the  marks  of  the  struggle  he  had  maintained.  I  had  him  put 
into  a  bath,  where  he  remained  for  eight  hours,  receiving  a  con- 
stant flow  of  water  on  his  head — a  method  which  I  employ  very 
successfully  in  such  cases.  Occasionally,  he  was  calm  ;  then  he 
declared  he  was  God,  Jesus  Christ,  or  an  emperor,  and  that  we 


HALLUCINATIONS  IN  MANIA.  145 

were  all  devils.     He  saw  before  him  heaps  of  gold  and  precious 
stones,  which  he  lavished  on  all  around  him. 

During  the  night,  he  had  a  fit  of  frenzy,  which  was  exhibited 
by  bowlings.  With  his  feet  and  elbows,  he  demolished  every- 
thing in  his  room.  He  was  completely  out  of  his  mind.  In  his 
lucid  intervals,  he  said  that  he  had  fought  with  persons  who  were 
throwing  shovelsfull  of  earth  on  his  head. 

The  words  king,  queen,  and  guillotine,  occurred  often  in  his 
ravings,  without  our  being  able  to  bring  them  into  any  connec- 
tion. 

Five  days  afterwards,  he  struck  one  of  the  keepers  with  an 
iron  bar  that  he  had  torn  from  the  window-frame.  He  afterwards 
explained  this  act  by  saying  that  a  voice  had  revealed  to  him 
that  he  could  raise  the  dead  ;  he  had,  therefore,  intended  to  kill 
the  man,  cut  oJBT  his  head,  and  then  revive  him.  He  constantly 
saw  lions,  leopards,  and  chameleons,  of  which  he  gave  vivid  de- 
criptions. 

As  his  malady  increased,  he  ceased  using  the  French  tongue,, 
which  he  spoke  without  accent,  and  with  as  much  purity  as  his 
own.  All  his  soliloquies  were  in  English.  It  is  a  peculiarity, 
already  pointed  out,  and  which  our  experience  has  confirmed,, 
that  the  insane,  during  their  delirium,  always  return  to  the  use 
of  their  native  tongue,  although  it  is  sometimes  less  familiar 
to  them  than  that  of  the  country  in  which  they  reside. 

Mr.  P.  frequently  imitated  the  sound  of  trumpets.  At  such 
times,  he  thought  he  was  hunting  lions  and  leopards.  When  he 
killed  them,  he  uttered  cries  of  joy.  At  other  times,  his  walls 
were  tapestried  with  gold,  and  covered  with  precious  stones. 
The  persons  about  him  changed  their  identity,  and  he  spoke  to 
them  in  accordance  with  his  conception  of  their  character.  He 
addressed  them  with  clearness,  relative  to  events  with  which 
they  were  acquainted.  At  times,  he  imagined  he  was  increas- 
ing in  height,  and  in  order  to  avoid  reaching  the  ceiling,  he 
doubled  himself  up  to  but  half  his  size. 

These  hallucinations  and  illusions  continued  uninterruptedly 
for  two  months.  His  appetite  was  good,  his  countenance  un- 
derwent no  alteration,  his  eye  was  always  bright  and  intelligent. 
But  he  then  began  to  show  signs  of  failing,  his  limbs  fell 
away;  and  it  became  evident  that  he  would  sink  under  the  seve- 
10 


146  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

ritj  of  the  disease.  In  the  third  month  of  his  residence  in  my 
establishment  his  speech  became  thick  and  embarrassed;  every 
symptom  of  congestion  of  the  brain  was  developed;  and  two 
days  after,  he  expired  in  a  state  of  coma. 

How  could  so  powerful  an  organization  pay  a  fatal  tribute  to 
insanity!  This  question  was  at  length  solved.  We  learned  that 
a  marriage,  contracted  against  the  consent  of  his  parents  and 
friends,  had  been  a  fruitful  source  of  disagreement  and  vexation. 
The  cruel  death  of  a  near  relative,  who  was  massacred  at  Rome 
by  an  ignorant  and  furious  mob,  by  whom  he  was  accused,  during 
a  cholera  epidemic,  of  poisoning  children,  had  also  been  a  sub- 
ject of  much  grief  to  him  ;  for,  with  men  of  his  temperament, 
the  impossibility  of  revenge  is  a  great  torment. 

Hallucinations  may,  with  maniacs,  be  exhibited  at  the  com- 
mencement of  the  malady,  may  precede  it,  may  coexist  with  and 
cease  with  it,  or  they  may  exist  after  it. 

Those  of  hearing  and  sight  most  frequently  coexist  with  it. 

Sometimes  the  one  replaces  the  other. 

Very  frequently  they  are  accompanied  by  illusions. 

It  sometimes  happens  that  illusions  are  transformed  into  hal- 
lucinations, and  vice  versa.  A  maniac  thinks  that  all  the  per- 
sons who  approach  him  are  frightful  animals;  then,  by  a  process 
natural  to  man,  he  detaches  the  image  from  the  idea,  places  it 
before  his  eyes,  and,  frightened  at  his  own  creation,  howls,  and 
engages  in  furious  combats  with  the  imaginary  animal.  At  other 
times  these  maniacs,  after  thinking  they  recognize  acquaintances 
in  strangers,  see  those  persons  before  them,  speak  to  them,  and 
receive  answers.  These  changes  are  observable  in  other  forms 
of  mental  aberration. 

Hallucinations,  like  mental  diseases,  may  be  symptomatic. 
A  woman  was  attacked  with  a  violent  complaint  in  the  intes- 
tines; she  became  deranged,  wept,  sang,  and  talked  incoherently. 
In  the  midst  of  her  delirium,  she  thought  she  saw  large  fish  in 
the  yard,  for  which  she  angled.  At  times,  she  exhibited  much 
fear,  believing  these  fish  were  about  to  eat  her.  In  proportion 
as  the  intestinal  affection  diminished,  these  ideas  began  to  de- 
crease, and  when  she  quitted  us,  she  was  entirely  cured. 

Hallucinations  and  illusions  may  occasion  dissoluteness  of  an 
extraordinary  character. 

Case  LXI.    Mademoiselle  0.  had  been  remarkable  for  her 


HALLUCINATIONS  IN  MANIA.  147 

excellent  judgment,  so  much  so  as  to  be  constantly  consulted  by 
her  friends.  This  fact,  which  was  attested  by  a  number  of  per- 
sons very  capable  of  appreciating  her  mind,  proved  to  me  that, 
if  the  absence  of  judgment  be  one  of  the  distinctive  characteris- 
tics of  insanity,  the  rule  is  not  without  exception.  Who  does 
not  remember  the  case  of  a  man,  whose  powerful  mind  assisted 
in  maintaining  the  peace  of  the  world,  and  yet,  who  fell  a  victim 
to  insanity  in  the  full  vigor  of  manhood. 

The  first  symptoms  of  her  disease  were  manifested  by  a  kind 
of  presentiment.  She  begged  her  friends  to  place  her  in  a 
certain  establishment,  which  she  named,  in  case  she  went  mad. 
The  request  surprised  them  much,  for  at  this  time  she  conversed 
rationally,  and  had  exhibited  no  singularity  of  conduct. 

Mademoiselle  0.  soon  thought  she  heard  voices  insulting 
her.  They  threatened  to  cut  her  into  four  parts,  to  make  mince- 
meat of  her,  and  to  devour  her.  These  voices  desired  her  to 
swallow  everything.  Obedient  to  this  order,  she  successively 
introduced  into  her  stomach,  earrings,  pins,  mittens,  and  would 
have  swallowed  a  set  of  dominoes,  if,  suspecting  her  intention, 
they  had  not  been  taken  from  her.  This  lady  either  laughed 
when  she  saw  herself  the  object  of  our  notice,  or  flew  into  a 
rage  ;  she  struck,  and  attempted  to  scratch  us,  and  said  we  v/ere 
all  devils.  Her  incoherent  discourse  proved  the  disorder  of  her 
faculties.  She  was  being  sought  for  in  order  to  be  taken  to 
China;  devils  maltreated  her;  we  were  Messieurs  So  and  So; 
then  we  changed  into  bandits  and  villains.  By  a  sudden  and 
incomprehensible  transition,  these  wild  fancies  disappeared  as 
though  blown  away  by  the  wind,  and  a  sensible,  instructive  con- 
versation struck  every  one  with  astonishment,  so  incomprehen- 
sible was  so  rapid  a  change. 

This  young  lady  also  exhibited  a  perversion  of  cutaneous 
sensitiveness,  which  made  her  take  pleasure  in  picking  off  her 
skin.  This  is  a  symptom  we  have  often  noticed  with  the  insane, 
especially  hypochondriacs.  This  mania  was  carried  to  such  a 
length  that  we  often  counted  as  many  as  twelve  large  sores  on 
different  parts  of  her  body. 

Hard  work  and  fatigue,  with  certain  changes  in  the  physical 
functions  which  occur  in  middle  life,  appear  to  have  caused  the 
mental  malady  of  this  lady. 

There  were  times  when  she  was  convinced  that  she  grew  thin 


148  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

and  shrank  visibly,  although  she  was  enormously  stout.  Once 
she  entreated  a  lady  to  put  her  into  her  umbrella  or  her  hat 
that  she  might  be  more,  easily  moved.  At  other  times,  she  fan- 
cied herself  metamorphosed  into  a  cat  or  a  dog,  and  imitated, 
for  hours  together,  the  cries  of  the  different  animals. 

These  illusions  were  replaced  by  another  that  lasted  some 
time.  She  complained  that  every  one  accused  her  of  being  a 
man.  Though  prior  to  her  derangement  she  was  extremely 
chaste  and  correct  in  every  particular,  she  became  most  revolt- 
ingly  immodest. 

It  has  been  said  that  the  generative  instinct  has  its  seat  in 
the  brain  ;  but  how  does  it  happen  that  this  organ  should  be 
aroused  at  the  moment  its  functions  are  about  to  cease?  Ac- 
cording to  a  law  of  physiology,  ought  not  long  inaction  to  induce 
atrophy?  Another  reflection  also  arises:  Why  is  it  that  females 
who  have  been  well  brought  up,  use  gross  words  and  commit 
immodest  actions  ;  whilst  those  of  loose  morals  appear  reserved? 
The  reply,  it  appears  to  us,  may  be  found  in  the  organization. 
An  instinct  may  be  repressed  by  education  and  religion  ;  but 
never  destroyed. 

She  remained  for  an  entire  year  in  this  state  of  mania  ;  a 
prey  to  continual  hallucinations  and  illusions.  At  one  time  she 
saw  devils  and  heard  voices  ;  then  she  was  visited  by  strangers 
and  by  friends  ;  poisoned  food  was  served  up  for  her  ;  her 
apartment  was  filled  with  bad  odors,  or  a  dreadful  noise  was 
made  to  prevent  her  sleeping.  Sometimes  she  pretended  that 
we  had  beaten  her,  and  showed  the  sores  she  had  made  in 
tearing  off  her  skin.  Sometimes  she  thought  herself  the 
Duchess  de  Berri,  and  that  she  had  a  little  son.  At  such  times, 
she  would  seek  her  child  everywhere,  and  thought  she  saw  him 
in  every  object  which  met  her  eye. 

After  this  period,  we  remarked  that  she  became  calmer,  and 
had  prolonged  lucid  intervals.  She  was  permitted  to  descend 
to  the  garden.  Soon  her  reason  was  entirely  restored.  It  has 
been  asserted  that,  after  such  prolonged  attacks,  the  intellectual 
faculties  are  always  somewhat  impaired.  Mademoiselle  0. 
was  an  exception  to  this  rule  ;  for  she  passed  entire  days  with 
us,  either  engaged  in  conversation,  or  in  giving  instruction  to 
my  children.  The  clearness  of  her  explanations,  the  facility 
with  which  she  selected  examples,  and  the  excellence  of  her 


HALLUCINATIONS  IN  MANIA.  149 

metliod,  daily  excited  our  surprise.  Her  memory  "was  prodi- 
gious ;  nothing  had  been  forgotten  during  the  long  night  of  her 
malady.  For  ten  entire  days,  this  miraculous  resurrection  was 
sustained;  but  by  degrees  her  brain  was  again  filled  with  absurd 
and  singular  ideas.  She  would  stop  in  the  midst  of  the  most 
sensible  conversation  to  tell  us  that  she  was  not  a  Chinese,  that 
she  had  never  been  to  Africa,  and  that  she  had  not  cut  any 
one's  throat.  Her  disorder  recurred  in  all  its  intensity  ;  and 
from  this  relapse  until  her  death,  which  occurred  four  months 
afterwards,  she  had  intermitting  periods  of  calm  and  madness. 
In  her  paroxysms,  she  would  undress  to  show  that  her  back  had 
been  changed  ;  that  she  was  an  animal,  or  that  she  was  Made- 
moiselle B.,  one  of  the  boarders,  or  rather  to  prove  the  con- 
trary, in  a  manner  similar  to  those  ancient  rhetoricians,  who 
maintained  the  pro  and  eon  of  a  given  proposition.  Another 
peculiarity  of  this  derangement  is,  that  Mademoiselle  0. 
frequently  wrote  letters  in  the  midst  of  the  most  incoherent 
discourse,  without  introducing  one  word  that  could  betray  the 
state  of  her  mind,  a  circumstance  which,  on  an  inquest,  would 
have  been  adduced  as  proof  of  the  soundness  of  her  judgment. 

There  is  a  variety  of  mania  to  which  circumstances  have 
given  the  name  of  puerperal  mania,  or  the  madness  of  women 
durino;  childbed  confinement.  The  strangest  hallucinations  of 
sight  and  hearing  throw  the  patient  into  inexpressible  agitation, 
and  by  turns  they  endure  all  the  tortures  of  the  fear  of  death, 
and  of  poisoning,  and  all  the  agonies  of  despair.* 

M.  Esquirol,  who  has  published  an  excellent  treatise  on  this 
subject,  estimates  the  number  of  women  who  are  attacked  with 
this  mania  to  be  seven  per  cent,  of  all  cases  of  derangement — 
an  estimate  which  appears  to  us  to  require  reconsideration.  He 
has  not  directed  attention  to  the  phenomenon  of  hallucinations 
and  illusions,  which  Mr.  Morel,  on  the  contrary,  considers  fre- 
quent. He,  however,  relates  four  cases  in  which  there  was  a 
combination  of  these  two  symptoms. 

In  an  article  published  by  us  on  the  Insanity  of  Women 
in  Childbed,f  we  have  noticed  hallucinations,  and  have  shown 
those  of  hearing  to  be  very  common.     The  women  hear  voices 

*  Morel,  Mémoire  sur  la  Manie  des  Femmes  en  couches,  Paris,  1842. 
t  Bibliothèque  des  Médecins  Praticiens,  t.  ix.  p.  472. 


150  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

ringing  in  their  ears.  In  some  unhappy  cases,  these  voices 
impel  them  to  commit  suicide.  Out  of  111  cases  of  puerperal 
madness,  collected  in  Bedlam,  32  had  a  tendency  to  suicide. 

Hallucinations  and  illusions  in  maniacs  occasion  resolutions 
and  actions,  which  are  incomprehensible  at  first  sight,  but  to 
■which  a  deeper  knowledge  of  these  two  states  almost  always 
furnish  a  natural  explanation.  A  madman  looks  fiercely  at  you; 
he  is  about  to  spring  upon  you  and  to  beat  you.  He  acts  thus 
because  an  illusion  has  changed  your  appearance  into  that  of  an 
enemy  ;  or  he  thinks  that  you  are  making  grimaces  at  him,  or 
insulting  him.  Here  is  one  who  springs  out  of  the  window, 
because  he  thinks  that  the  street  is  on  a  level  with  his  room,  or 
that  he  is  stepping  into  a  garden  filled  with  fruits  and  flowers. 
Another  throws  his  bread  into  the  stream,  or  crushes  it  beneath 
his  feet,  to  make  it  more  tender,  and  to  give  it  another  flavor. 

Many  maniacs  refuse  food  on  their  entrance  into  a  hospital, 
believing  it  to  be  poisoned.  Some  look  extatically  on  the  sky, 
because  they  conceive  the  clouds  to  be  of  gold,  or  to  represent 
knights  and  palaces.  One  of  our  patients  turned  continually 
on  his  heel  ;  we  learned  that  he  was  an  old  engineer  for  many 
years  in  the  establishment  of  Dr.  Blanche,  who,  by  means  of 
rotary  machinery,  raised  water  to  an  immense  height. 

There  are  others  who  see  animals,  insects,  or  brilliant  colors, 
on  their  clothes,  or  in  their  straw.  The  slightest  noises  occasion 
a  variety  of  impressions  ;  voices  threaten,  cannon  are  fired,  or 
concerts  are  performed.  These  false  sensations  often  occasion 
reprehensible  or  dangerous  actions.  Some  maniacs  kill,  because 
they  see  the  devil  before  them  ;  others  die  of  hunger,  burn  or 
mutilate  themselves,  in  obedience  to  a  command.  Facts  of 
this  kind  are  numerous.  It  is  very  difficult  to  trace  them  to 
their  real  causes,  from  the  agitation  and  irascibility  of  the 
patient,  and  from  the  impossibility  of  obtaining  an  answer  to 
any  question.  These  eccentricities  arise  from  hallucinations 
and  illusions. 

Recapitulation. — Mania  is  a  form  of  madness  which  is  often 
combined  with  hallucinations  and  illusions.  The  union  of  these 
two  symptoms  has  struck  us  as  more  common  in  mania  than  in 
other  forms  of  insanity. 

False  impressions  may  be  exhibited  at  the  commencement 


HALLUCINATIONS  IN  MANIA.  151 

of  mania,  during  its  progress,  and  at  its  close,  or  they  may  re- 
place it. 

Hallucination  and  illusion  may  be  tlie  causes  of  mania,  -which 
takes  their  place,  and  of  which  it  is  then  but  the  transforma- 
tion. 

Of  all  hallucinations  and  illusions,  those  of  hearing  and  sight 
are  the  most  common;  they  are  very  frequently  combined,  may 
exist  singly,  or  may  replace  each  other. 

Illusions  are  sometimes  transformed  into  hallucinations,  and 
vice  versa. 

Hallucinations,  most  usually  primitive  in  mania,  are  sometimes 
symptomatic. 

Puerperal  mania  is  frequently  combined  with  hallucinations 
and  illusions,  which  considerably  augment  the  sickness. 

The  hallucinations  and  illusions  of  maniacs  occasion  a  multi- 
tude of  singular  resolutions,  and  lead  to  actions  of  an  injurious 
and  dangerous  character. 

It  is  often  difficult  to  prove  the  hallucinations  and  illusions  of 
maniacs,  especially  in  a  large  establishment,  in  consequence  of 
their  perturbation  and  the  versatility  of  their  ideas  ;  but  pro- 
longed and  attentive  observation  leaves  no  doubt  on  the  mind 
that  both  of  these  morbid  states  are  developed  among  the  greater 
number  of  these  afflicted  beings. 


CHAPTER    VIII. 

OF  HALLUCINATIONS  IN  DEMENTIA. 

Section  I. — Hallucinations  more  frequent  in  dementia  than  is  generally  sup- 
posed— To  what  may  the  fact  be  attributed — Division  of  dementia  into  mono- 
maniac and  maniac,  complete  and  senile — Abstract  of  hallucinations  in  dementia 
— Case  of  monomaniac  dementia — Case  of  maniac  dementia — Difficulty  of  dis- 
tinguishing the  shades  of  difference — Hallucinations  may  be  of  an  intermittent 
character — Case  of  complete  dementia — Case  of  senile  dementia — Recapilula- 
tion. 

Section  II. — Hallucinations  exist  in  dementia  with  general  paralysis — Abstract — 
Cases — Recapitulation. 

Section  III. — Hallucinations  viewed  in  relation  to  imbecility,  idiotism,  and  cre- 
tinism— ^They  may  exist  in  the  first,  but  they  are  never  observed  in  the  last 
two — Recapitulation. 

SECT.  I.— OF  HALLUCINATIONS  IN  DEMENTIA. 

If  the  meaning  of  the  -word  dementia  were  restricted  to  the 
definition  at  present  generally  accorded  to  it,  it  is  certain  that 
the  insane  comprised  in  this  category  would  rarely  exhibit  the 
phenomena  of  hallucinations  and  illusions.  But  from  the  stage 
at  which  the  intellectual  faculties  begin  to  fail,  to  the  period  of 
their  complete  obliteration,  the  degrees  are  infinite. 

There  are  some  deranged  persons  who  have  but  a  momentary 
wandering,  and  who  resume  conversation,  as  if  no  hiatus  had 
occurred  in  their  minds.  With  such,  the  signs  of  dementia  only 
exhibit  themselves  at  intervals  more  or  less  distant.  Fre- 
quently— and  this  fact  has  more  particularly  engaged  our  atten- 
tion— we  find  in  dementia  the  maniac  and  monomaniac  types,  so 
that  we  can  establish  the  following  classification;  monomaniac 
dementia,  maniac  dementia,  complete  dementia,  to  which  must  be 
added  senile  dementia.  This  distinction  appears  to  us  of  suffi- 
cient importance  to  be  made  hereafter  the  subject  of  a  special 
work. 

In  considering  dementia  under  this  new  aspect,  it  will  not 


HALLUCINATIONS  IN  DEMENTIA.  153 

excite  surprise,  that  our  experience  differs  materially  from  that 
of  Messrs.  Aubanel  and  Thore.  Thus,  whilst  these  physicians 
encountered  only  one  case  of  hallucinations,  in  45  of  dementia; 
we  have  observed  16  cases  out  of  21  in  which  hallucinations  and 
illusions  existed.     The  combination  was  as  follows  : — 

Hallucinations  of  hearing  and  sight  .  8  times. 

"          "         of  hearing  and  touch  .  3      " 

"         "         of  hearing         .         .  .  3     " 

Illusions  of  sight  .  .  .  .  2      " 

Neither  hallucinations  nor  illusions  .  5     " 

Case  LXII.  Mademoiselle  C,  seventy-two  years  of  age,  did 
not  show  any  symptoms  of  derangement  of  mind  until  her 
seventy-first  year.  At  that  period,  instead  of  leading  a  seden- 
tary life,  according  to  her  usual  habits,  she  travelled  continu- 
ally. Her  family,  being  unable  to  persuade  her  to  remain  quiet, 
brought  her  to  my  establishment.  This  lady  then  fancied  that 
some  treacherous  person  had  secured  her  papers;  that  she  was 
his  victim  ;  that,  to  wrong  her,  he  had  forged  her  signature  ;  and 
that  his  object  was  to  obtain  her  property.  In  this  accusation 
she  included  three  other  persons.  Her  discourse  was  rambling, 
nor  did  she  recollect  what  she  had  said.  Her  memory  was  weak- 
ened, but  she  often  spoke  with  clearness.  This  state  lasted  for 
entire  days. 

On  interrogating  her,  we  found  that,  for  several  months  past, 
she  had  seen  in  the  evening,  and  particularly  in  the  night,  per- 
sons around  her  bed,  who,  besides  making  noises,  held  conver- 
sations that  she  did  not  understand.  "When  I  was  in  the 
country,"  she  would  say,  "I  was  followed  or  accompanied  by 
men  of  consequence,  who  sometimes  disapp€;^red,  sometimes 
rode  in  cabriolets.  I  very  often  met  an  officer  from  the  castle, 
who  appeared  as  soon  as  I  got  into  the  street  ;  his  mission  was 
to  protect  me."  She  replied  to  all  questions  so  rationally,  that 
the  examining  magistrates  Avould  have  been  embarrassed  if  she 
had  not  returned  to  the  subject  of  the  traitors,  amongst  whom 
she  accused  several  honorable  persons.  As  soon  as  the  magis- 
trates were  gone,  she  assured  us  that  it  was  a  plot,  stating  that 
they  were  disguised,  but  that  she  had  recognized  them. 

On  some  days,  this  lady,  whose  recollection  of  names  and 


154  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

persons  was  so  good,  and  wlio  replied  so  rationally  to  all  the 
questions  addressed  to  her,  entirely  lost  her  reason.  She 
thought  that  the  king  paid  her  board  ;  that  I  had  created  a 
double,  and  was  not  myself;  but  after  a  few  minutes,  she  did 
not  recollect  what  she  had  said.  Amidst  her  greatest  wander- 
ings, she  always  maintained  the  idea  that  she  had  been  con- 
ducted to  my  house  by  an  individual  under  a  false  name,  and 
that  this  imprisonment  had  no  other  object  than  to  deprive  her 
of  her  property. 

Mademoiselle  C.  often  spoke  in  the  night  to  imaginary  per- 
sons. Sometimes  she  replied  in  a  friendly  or  respectful  man- 
ner ;  at  others,  she  used  insulting  language.  One  morning  she 
assured  me  that  one  of  the  boarders,  Madame  D.,  had  been  to  see 
her  in  the  middle  of  the  night  (each  one  was  locked  in  her  own 
room)  to  tell  her  that  she  was  the  Goddess  of  Folly,  which  was 
acknowledged  throughout  the  country.  Then  her  ideas  changing, 
she  fancied  that  the  portrait  of  Fate  was  being  painted;  that 
she  was  Madame  Georges,  that  I  ought  to  let  her  out  to  unmask 
the  evil-doers.  All  this  Avas  pronounced  in  a  low  and  confidential 
tone,  in  order  to  prevent  the  supposed  persons  from  hearing  her. 

For  two  years,  the  condition  of  Mademoiselle  C.  did  not  alter; 
she  continued  to  believe  herself  the  victim  of  treachery,  and 
said  that  several  persons  had  committed  faults  for  which  she 
was  shut  up.  Almost  daily  she  begged  me  to  allow  her  to  go  to 
church,  but  her  intention  was  to  escape.  Whenever  she  was 
asked  details  relative  to  her  business  or  concerning  her  acquaint- 
ances, she  replied  correctly,  and  her  memory,  although  weakened 
in  many  points,  had  great  tenacity  for  the  names  and  characters 
of  those  whom  she  had  not  seen  for  many  years.  This  lady  died 
at  the  age  of  eighty,  having  the  same  hallucinations,  without 
any  augmentation  of  her  insanity,  and  preserving  great  firmness 
of  character. 

There  are  some  persons  affected  with  dementia,  who  arc  very 
little  influenced  by  external  impressions;  their  intermediate  ideas 
are  gone;  their  memory  is  impaired;  but  they  can,  nevertheless, 
engage  in  and  follow,  for  the  moment,  a  conversation.  A  young 
lady  in  this  condition,  was  attacked  with  hallucinations.  She 
thought  that  her  brother,  who  had  been  several  years  deceased, 
lived  in  one  of  the  rooms  of  the  establishment  ;  she  heard  him 
sigh,  and  utter  lamentations.    Convinced  that  some  persons  were 


HALLUCINATIONS  IN  DEMENTIA.  155 

beatincr  and  desirous  of  killino;  him,  she  became  agitated,  ran 
from  right  to  left,  called  him,  and  uttered  cries.  At  night,  she 
saw  people  with  whom  she  quarrelled,  and  who  gave  her  blows; 
in  order  to  defend  herself,  and  prevent  their  coming  in  contact 
with  her,  she  never  undressed.  This  ladj  declared  that  bad 
smells  Avere  spread  around  her,  and  that  her  food  was  poisoned; 
she  then  refused  nourishment,  ate  dry  bread,  and  drank  only 
water. 

Very  often,  on  questioning  her,  she  would  either  not  reply  at 
all,  or  talk  incoherently,  without  any  regard  to  the  questions 
asked. 

The  monomaniac  form  of  hallucination  may  continue  to  a  very 
advanced  stage  of  the  disease.  Madame  M.,  aged  eighty-one, 
has  lost  her  memory  ;  she  no  longer  recognizes  her  children  ; 
her  past  and  present  life  is  a  blank.  During  the  four  years  that 
she  has  passed  in  the  establishment,  one  hallucination  has  been 
her  torment.  Her  husband,  who  died  six  years  previously,  is 
ever  present  with  her;  but  he  is  not  above  one  foot  in  height; 
he  appears  to  her  as  a  soul.  He  wanders  on  the  walls,  on  the 
roof,  in  the  street;  he  calls  to  her,  and  complains  of  cold,  be- 
cause he  is  naked  and  hungry.  She  replies  with  sighs,  shrieks, 
and  bowlings  ;  desires  to  have  brandy,  soup,  and  clothes  brought. 
Almost  incapable  of  walking,  she  endeavors  to  get  to  the  court- 
yard, where  he  tells  her  to  come.  Sometimes  he  shows  himself 
as  a  head  to  which  wings  are  attached.  We  have  already  spoken 
of  this  lady  in  another  chapter. 

Dementia  often  exhibits  itself  in  a  maniacal  îoyvci',  and  it  is 
sometimes  very  difficult  to  discover  the  shades  of  diiference 
which  separate  the  two  states.  A  person  may  appear  maniacal 
who  has  already  advanced  one  step  into  dementia  ;  another  ap- 
pears demented,  who,  as  yet,  is  only  maniacal.  As  the  malady 
progresses,  the  diagnosis  does  not  long  remain  doubtful;  but  the 
statu  quo  condition  may  last  a  considerable  time,  and  the  diffi- 
culty is  then  very  great. 

Case  LXIII.  M.  B.,  a  well-known  artist,  and  one  who  has 
acquired  a  well-merited  celebrity,  has  for  fifteen  years  been  sub- 
ject to  a  maniacal  delirium  which  has  passed  into  dementia. 
Frequently  set  at  liberty,  his  excitement  becomes  decided  and 
even  dangerous,  whenever  any  great  public  event  occurs.  The 
intellectual  disorder  is  then  manifested  by  hallucinations  of  smell 


156  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

and  taste  ;  he  imagines  that  he  is  obliged  to  inhale  infectious 
odors  ;  that  some  one  is  trying  to  injure  and  poison  him.  He 
becomes  very  suspicious,  and  shuts  himself  up  in  his  room.  He 
goes  the  rounds  with  his  sabre,  searches  in  the  wardrobes,  and 
under  the  beds,  and  threatens  to  kill  twelve  or  fifteen  hundred 
persons.  He  also  believes  that  he  is  followed  by  strangers,  who 
cause  all  the  evils  he  suffers. 

When  tranquil,  he  speaks  of  his  art,  and  it  is  then  a  real 
pleasure  to  listen  to  him,  for  his  conversation,  full  of  interest, 
is  interspersed  with  curious  anecdotes.  His  letters  on  the  sub- 
ject, although  very  long,  exhibit  no  confusion  of  ideas.  But 
when  the  paroxysm  comes  on,  which  occurs  at  indefinite  periods, 
his  conversation  is  incoherent.  He  is  an  elector,  he  must  go 
and  vote;  he  is  a  proprietor;  they  have  no  right  to  confine  him. 
He  is  imprisoned  because  he  quarrelled  with  a  literary  man, 
which  he  explained  to  the  magistrates.  Foreigners  did  all 
the  harm  ;  they  were  preferred  to  the  French.  He  had  written 
works  which  ought  to  insure  the  gratitude  of  the  country.  He 
then  talks  of  the  King  of  Prussia,  and  on  many  other  sub- 
jects having  no  connection  with  his  present  state.  His  memory 
is  weakened.  During  the  paroxysm  he  sees  individuals,  and 
hears  voices  that  threaten  him  ;  objects  are  transformed  ;  he  is 
terrified.  By  degrees  these  symptoms  abate  ;  he  becomes 
rational  ;  draws,  paints,  plays  the  violin,  and  talks  well.  For 
eleven  years  this  state  has  continued.  Latterly,  he  plays  all 
night,  and  dances  with  the  company.  His  hallucinations  con- 
tinue. 

Case  LXIV. — Madame  Z.,  aged  fifty,  deranged  for  ten  years, 
believes  herself  invested  with  the  functions  of  inspector-general; 
her  discourse  is  generally  unconnected,  especially  when  she 
talks  long.  This  lady  carries  her  head  high,  speaks  senten- 
tiously,  and  in  Italian.  Sometimes  she  gets  into  a  rage,  be- 
cause the  telegraphs  act  in  a  manner  tending  to  degrade  her, 
and  send  her  fumigations  that  she  wishes  to  avoid.  She  complains 
that  she  is  beaten,  which  adds  to  her  anger,  when  fresh  attempts 
at  violence  recall  the  old  ones.  By  means  of  acoustics,  her 
ears  are  assailed  with  filth  and  insults  of  all  kinds.  At  times, 
Madame  Z.  dresses  herself  in  a  very  absurd  style  ;  her  manner 
is  theatrical.  She  is  intrusted  with  the  highest  functions;  exerts 
an  active  surveillance  ;  gives  in  reports  of  all  she  observes.     If 


HALLUCINATIONS  IN  DEMENTIA.  157 

she  sees  anything  blameworthy,  she  gets  into  a  violent  passion, 
and  abuses  and  threatens  ;  her  countenance  expresses  the  ex- 
citement -which  transports  her. 

During  the  ten  years  that  she  has  been  under  my  charge,  her 
maniacal  acts  are  always  the  same  ;  and  she  often  explains  them 
plausibly.  In  the  middle  of  the  night,  and  even  in  the  day, 
her  voice  rings  through  the  house  ;  in  a  dogmatic  tone  she 
addresses  discourses  to  beings  with  whom  she  is  in  the  country, 
and  speaks  with  them  on  the  sciences.  They  are  professors  and 
learned  men  who  reply  to  her. 

One  of  her  principal  hallucinations  is  the  belief  that  persons 
get  into  her  chamber  through  the  walls,  the  windows,  and  the 
doors,  and  talk  and  act  obscenely.  She  insists  that  jugglers 
make  use  of  physics  and  chemistry  to  torture  her.  She  often 
entreats  me  to  save  her  from  the  emmenagogues  that  the  jug- 
glers make  her  take.  This  lady  has  also  illusions  of  the  sight  ; 
figures  and  objects  are  transformed,  or  assume  an  unnatural 
aspect  or  color.  The  insanity  has  increased,  but  hallucinations 
and  illusions  still  exist  (October,  1851). 

Dubuisson  reports,  in  his  work,  the  case  of  a  demented  person 
who,  during  sixteen  years,  at  the  vernal  and  autumnal  equinox, 
and  during  the  summer  and  winter  solstice,  shrieked  night  and 
day,  tore  his  bedclothes,  his  sheets,  and  his  mattress,  because 
he  imagined  he  was  covered  with  serpents  and  vipers.  These 
paroxysms  lasted  from  fifteen  to  twenty  days.* 

In  complete  or  entire  dementia,  when  the  memory  is  almost 
gone,  when  there  remain  no  passions,  no  desires,  and  the  patients 
obey  their  keepers  like  children,  hallucinations  are  still  pro- 
duced. 

Case  LXV. — M.  C,  sixty-three  years  of  age,  had  always  a 
weak  intellect,  but  was  often  obstinate.  His  children  were 
obliged  to  leave  him.  Having  reached  the  last  stage  of  demen- 
tia, no  longer  recognizing  any  one,  he  was  brought  to  my  esta- 
blishment, because  every  night,  at  bedtime,  he  was  seized  with 
an  extreme  terror  at  the  sight  of  murderers  coming  to  kill  him. 
During  the  existence  of  this  idea,  he  called  out  incessantly  to 
the  assassin,  to  the  police,  for  help,  and  fought  as  though  to 

*  Des  Vesaniea,  ou  Maladies  Mentales,  p.  188,  Paris,  1816, 


158  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

defend  himself.  This  lasted  for  several  months,  and  some  days 
before  his  death,  the  same  hallucination  came  to  torment  him. 

For  ten  years  we  had  a  lady  under  our  care,  with  whom  it 
was  impossible  to  hold  any  communication  because  she  fell  into 
a  rage  whenever  she  was  approached,  and  talked  wildly  and 
incessantly.  Every  night  she  held  disputes  with  persons  who 
contradicted  and  insulted  her  ;  her  quarrels  were  extremely 
violent,  and  lasted  for  hours.  All  the  phases  of  the  scene  may 
be  imagined. 

Senile  dementia,  which  is  only  a  variety  of  this  kind,  is  also 
sometimes  accompanied  by  hallucinations.  We  knew  an  old  lady, 
aged  eighty-two,  who,  from  time  to  time,  was  subject  to  a  very 
singular  false  impression.  This  lady,  whose  chamber  looked  on 
to  a  large  white  wall,  told  us  how  agreeably  she  was  occupied  in 
seeing  several  thousand  persons  coming  down  the  wall  to  attend 
a  fête.  These  persons  wore  ball-dresses  ;  they  were  men,  wo- 
men, and  children.  She  uttered  exclamations  of  joy  and  sur- 
prise at  their  number,  the  variety  of  their  costumes,  and  the 
rapidity  with  which  they  went  down  to  the  third  story  be- 
low. By  degrees  the  promenaders  diminished  ;  she  only  saw  a 
few  scattered  groups  ;  and  at  length  all  disappeared.  We  have 
since  noticed  similar  cases  in  very  aged  women. 

Recapitulation. — Dementia  is  frequently  combined  with  hal- 
lucinations and  illusions. 

The  nature  of  dementia  would  appear  at  first  sight  to  render 
this  combination  less  frequent  ;  but  on  studying  more  atten- 
tively this  form  of  derangement,  we  are  convinced  that  it  has 
different  degrees  of  development,  amongst  which  monomania  and 
mania  play  an  important  part.  The  duration  of  these  halluci- 
nations may  be  prolonged  for  years,  because  there  are  varieties 
of  dementia  that  remain  stationary  for  a  length  of  time. 

Hallucinations  may  be  exhibited  in  dementia,  as  in  other  forms 
of  derangement,  under  a  continuous,  remittent,  intermittent,  and 
periodical  type. 

The  existence  of  hallucinations  in  complete  dementia  excites 
no  surprise,  since  the  individual  so  attacked  has  lived  out  a 
common  life,  and  we  cannot  ascertain  whether  all  his  recollec- 
tions are  extinct. 


HALLUCINATIO^"S  IN  DEMENTIA.  159 


SECT.  IL— OF  HALLUCINATIONS  IN   DEMENTIA,  WITH  GENERAL 
PARALYSIS. 

It  may  appear  somewhat  singular,  at  the  first  glance,  that  the 
most  serious  kind  of  lunacy  may  be  combined  with  hallucina- 
tions and  illusions.  In  fact,  how  can  we  believe  that  a  stut- 
tering man,  without  memory  or  sight,  with  mouth  half  open, 
hanging  lips,  and  shuffling  and  unsteady  gait,  can  be  awakened 
to  interest  in  anything  ?  Certainly,  the  objection  is  powerful, 
but  experience  proves  that  such  is  the  fact.  Moreover,  that 
which  we  have  advanced  relative  to  the  different  degrees  of 
dementia,  may  be  applied  to  the  derangement  of  reason  in  para- 
lysis. As  in  the  first  of  the  forms,  there  is  a  monomaniacal,  a 
maniacal,  and  a  demential  variety. 

"We  here  speak  only  of  paralytic  lunacy,  and  not  of  that 
disease  which  was  described  a  few  years  ago  as  general  progres- 
sive parahjsis,  witJiout  alienation.  Cases  of  this  kind  are  but 
few,  for  Messrs.  Aubanel  and  There  have  only  found  eight  in 
one  hundred  and  twenty  instances,  as  follows  : — 

Of  hallucinations  of  sight       ...         4  cases. 
Of  hearing     ......         2      " 

Internal  hallucinations    ....         2      " 

M.  Calmeil,  in  his  work  on  Paralysis,  gives  but  few  examples. 

M.  Bayle  does  not  speak  at  all  of  hallucinations  in  his  de- 
scription of  different  degrees  of  chronic  meningitis.  M.  Michea 
reports  two  in  fifteen  cases. 

It  i's  nevertheless  undeniable,  that  many  paralytic,  insane, 
and  demented  persons  have  hallucinations  of  sight  and  hearing. 
According  to  a  modern  author,  some  are  also  tormented  by 
incubes. 

Out  of  eight  cases  of  paralysis  and  dementia  in  our  establish- 
ment, four  had  hallucinations  of  hearing  and  sight. 

Case  LXVI.  Madame  ,  aged  sixty-five,  is  of  a  literary 

family;  and  has  been  celebrated  for  her  wit.  Her  eyes,  and  the 
expression  of  her  countenance,  still  bear  witness  to  the  brilliancy 
of  her  mind.  Now,  her  conversation  is  incoherent,  her  voice 
trembling,  her  memory  gone  ;  but  amid  this  wreck  of  intellect, 
she  has  still  an  idea  of  writing  poems.    Every  morning  she  tells 


160  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

me,  in  an  agitated  voice,  that  she  lias  received  the  visit  of  a 
white  angel,  who  has  conversed  with  her.  "During  the  day," 
she  says,  "  my  angel  spoke  tome;  he  engaged  me  to  go  out,  and 
see  my  daughter.  The  angel  is  young,  handsome,  and  fair."  It 
is  a  reminiscence  of  the  past.  At  times  she  believes  herself  at  a 
feast,  and  details  all  the  viands  she  has  tasted.  At  table,  the 
meats  are  excellent;  she  inhales  the  most  delicious  odors;  the 
wines  are  of  the  most  celebrated  vintage.  Excepting  on  the 
subject  of  her  poetry  and  her  works,  she  wanders  incessantly. 

Sometimes  the  frenzy  passes  from  one  object  to  another;  she 
grows  enraged  at  the  slightest  opposition.  Her  insanity  pre- 
sents one  of  the  phases  of  mania. 

Case  LXVII. — M.  N.  devoted  himself  for  many  years  to 
scientific  works,  more  particularly  to  the  natural  sciences.  His 
researches  appear  to  have  led  him  into  skepticism.  He  turned 
everything  into  ridicule,  and  discovered  a  host  of  arcana,  of 
which  he  was  the  first  to  make  a  jest.  In  talking  with  him,  one 
could  not  but  be  struck  with  the  confusion  of  his  language.  He 
liked  to  talk  of  his  works,  but  forgot  the  names  of  all  the  sub- 
stances, although  he  remembered  those  of  celebrated  persons 
whom  he  had  known — a  fresh  proof,  which  may  be  added  to  a 
thousand  others,  that  it  is  only  in  its  last  gasp  that  the  mind 
relinquishes  the  recollection  of  what  has  powerfully  affected  it. 
He  could  not  rest  satisfied  with  anything;  was  very  positive;  no 
one  could  dispute  with  him  ;  he  knew  everything.  As  he  broke 
and  destroyed  all  things  about  him,  we  were  obliged  to  put  the 
strait  waistcoat  on  him.  He  would  lead  me  aside,  entreat  me 
to  take  it  off,  and  in  a  mysterious  manner  promise  to  be  calm. 
Scarcely,  however,  was  he  free,  than  he  recommenced  his  mis- 
chief. 

He  was  a  prey  to  a  singular  hallucination  ;  he  constantly 
desired  to  mount  the  wall,  because  the  king  and  the  commissary 
of  police  waited  for  him  at  the  top.  We  were  obliged  to  fasten 
him  down  in  a  chair,  to  prevent  him  from  breaking  his  limbs. 
This  hallucination  lasted  for  six  weeks,  and  did  not  cease  until 
within  a  few  days  of  his  death. 

We  will  close  our  observations  on  general  paralysis,  by  fur- 
nishing the  cases  of  two  demented  persons  who,  having  reached 
the  last  stage  of  the  disease,  roused  from  their  torpid  condition 


HALLUCINATIONS  IN  DEMENTIA.  161 

and  began  to  utter  shrieks  and  bowlings   that  no  effort  could 
clieck. 

Case  LXVIII. — M.  B.,  paralytic  and  insane  for  four  years, 
bad  apparently  lost  tbe  power  of  speecb.  From  time  to  time, 
be  would  utter  hoarse  cries  and  inarticulate  sounds  ;  then  would 
keep  silent  for  fifteen  days  or  a  month.  At  certain  periods,  be 
would  recover  bis  speecb  and  pronounce  several  sentences, 
which  proved  him  to  be  under  the  influence  of  some  frightful 
hallucination.  In  fact,  he  saw  a  shark  at  his  side  ready  to 
devour  him.  His  efforts  to  scare  and  drive  away  the  monster 
were  terrible.  He  uttered  yells,  which  resounded  afar  off,  and 
beat  against  tbe  partition  of  bis  chamber.  His  features  were 
distorted  ;  bis  eyes  started  from  their  sockets  ;  be  was  bathed  in 
perspiration.  Nothing  could  pacify  him  ;  we  could  only  remain 
spectators  of  a  strife  that  painfully  affected  all  who  witnessed  it. 

This  hallucination  was  followed  by  very  serious  results.  One 
day,  believing  that  his  sister,  who  was  tenderly  ministering  to 
his  wants,  was  tbe  shark,  he  rushed  upon  her  with  a  razor. 
Happily,  she  escaped  tbe  weapon,  but  a  cousin  who  was  present 
at  this  distressing  scene,  was  so  affected  by  it  that  she  expired 
in  five  days. 

Lately,  another  paralytic  subject,  who  could  scarcely  make 
himself  intelligible,  commenced  shrieking  aloud,  calling  for  help 
against  a  murderer.  He  then  broke  all  tbe  panes  of  glass  in 
tbe  window,  probably  to  escape  by  tbe  lightest  passage,  which 
be  took  for  tbe  door.  We  came  in  all  baste.  He  told  us  that 
assassins  had  come  in,  bad  moved  his  bed,  and  wanted  to  kill 
him.  Nothing  could  soothe  him.  After  this  hallucination,  he 
refused  food  and  quickly  sank.     He  died  in  a  few  days. 

Recapitulation. — Dementia,  with  general  paralysis,  may  be 
combined  with  hallucinations. 

Presenting,  as  simple  dementia  does,  some  of  the  symptoms  of 
monomania  and  mania,  the  existence  of  hallucinations  is  easily 
explained. 

It  is  more  difficult  to  comprehend  bow  hallucinations  can  be 
produced  when  all  tbe  faculties  are  destroyed. 

It  is  probable  that,  in  this  state,  some  portion  of  the  brain 
remains  uninjured  ;  so  that  when  an  influence,  unknown  to  us, 
is  felt,  the  hallucination  may  occur  for  a  few  moments. 
11 


162  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

At  the  commencement  of  general  paralysis,  the  mind  being 
only  slightly  affected,  numerous  and  varied  hallucinations  may 
easily  occur. 

SECT.  III.— OF   HALLUCINATIONS   VIEWED   IN   RELATION   TO   IMBE- 
CILITY, IDIOTISM,  AND  CRETINISM. 

It  is  essential  for  the  production  of  hallucinations  that  cer- 
tain faculties,  amongst  which  imagination  holds  an  important 
place,  should  be  brought  into  play.  But  when  these  faculties 
are  entirely  extinct,  as  in  the  last  degree  of  madness,  or  when 
they  have  never  been  developed,  as  in  idiotism  and  cretinism, 
these  errors  of  the  senses  cannot  take  place. 

A  difference  ought  to  be  recognized  in  the  imbecile  whose 
mind  is  not  totally  destroyed;  who,  for  example,  has  memory, 
is  teachable,  exhibits  gratitude,  evinces  fear,  is  sometimes  re- 
vengeful, &c.  It  may  easily  be  understood,  that  where  these 
faculties  exist,  in  howsoever  limited  a  degree,  hallucinations  may 
occur.  To  us  there  seems  no  doubt  that  many  censurable,  even 
culpable  acts,  have  been  committed  by  imbeciles  who  have  had 
hallucinations  and  illusions.  Undoubtedly,  the  imbecile  insane 
are  credulous,  and  this  disposition  of  mind  makes  them  docile 
instruments  in  the  hands  of  adroit  rogues  ;  but  an  examination 
of  their  faculties  proves  that  they  may  be  led  away  by  halluci- 
nations. 

Recapitulation. — The  imbecile  who  has  the  use  of  several 
faculties,  may  have  hallucinations  and  illusions.  The  complete 
absence  of  mind  in  idiots  and  cretins  makes  the  production  of 
hallucinations  impossible  in  their  case. 


CHAPTER    IX. 

OF  HALLUCINATIONS  IN  DELIRIUM  TREMENS. 

Approximative  statistics  of  cases  of  insanity,  from  the  abuse  of  intoxicating 
drink — The  illusions  and  hallucinations  to  which  inebriates  are  subject — 
Cases — Nature  of  the  hallucinations — They  may  be  attended  with  very  serious 
results — Delirium  tremens  includes  diflTerent  diseases — Drunkenness — Its  con- 
nection with  drunken  alienation — Recapitulation. 

• 

The  effect  of  alcoholic  liquors  upon  man  is  too  well  known  to 
be  dwelt  upon.  We  will  simply  enter  into  some  details  concern- 
ing the  mental  derangement  which  is  frequently  the  result  of 
their  use. 

In  the  asylums  for  lunatics  belonging  to  the  middle  classes  of 
society,  one-tenth,  says  M.  Royer  Collard,*  become  insane  from 
excess  of  alcoholic  or  vinous  drinks.  The  proportion  of  men  to 
women  is  as  four  to  one. 

Dr.  Bayle  attributes  to  this  cause  one-third  of  the  mental 
maladies  to  which  he  has  directed  his  attention. f 

There  is  one  important  observation  to  be  made,  which  is,  that 
in  some  individuals  the  taste  for  drink  does  not  exhibit  itself 
until  after  the  appearance  of  insanity,  just  as  a  critical  age 
develops  in  very  estimable  women  an  inclination  for  drink. 

In  the  houses  devoted  to  insane  paupers,  this  influence  is  still 
more  remarkable.  Out  of  1679  lunatics,  admitted  into  Bicetre 
from  l^-OS  to  1813,  adds  Dr.  Ramon,  formerly  physician  of  that 
hospital,  there  were  126  insane  from  excess  of  drink.  Out  of 
264  women  in  the  Salpêtrière,  the  lunacy  of  26  only,  according 
to  M.  Esquirol,  could  be  attributed  to  the  abuse  of  wine. 

*  De  l'usage  et  de  l'abus  des  boissons  fermentées  et  distillées  (Prize 
Essay);  Paris,  1838. 

t  Bayle,  Traité  des  Maladies  du  Cerveau,  et  de  ses  Membranes,  Paris, 
1826. — Leveillé,  Folie  des  Ivrognes,  1830,  1  vol.  in  8vo. — Sandras,  Mala- 
dies Nerveuses. 


164  ON  HALLUCINATIONS, 

The  functional  derangement  produced  in  lunatics  by  excess  of 
drinking,  assumes  diverse  forms.  We  shall  only  treat  here  of 
the  disturbance  of  the  sensibilities  which  are  manifested  by 
illusions  of  the  senses  and  hallucinations.  The  afflicted  see 
objects  double  ;  everything  reels  around  them  ;  they  see  sha- 
dows and  spectres  ;  hear  an  uproar  of  voices,  or  unusual  sounds  ; 
they  are  convinced  that  their  food  tastes  of  poison;  they  inhale 
fetid  odors. 

Roesch  applies  the  term  éhneuse  to  the  hallucinations  of  deli- 
rium tremens.  He  says  that  the  sufferer  believes  his  room,  his 
bed,  his  clothes,  to  be  full  of  flies,  birds,  mice,  rats,  or  other  ani- 
mals, which  he  uses  all  means  to  drive  away.* 

M.  Marcel,  in  his  excellent  pamphlet  on  this  subject  observes, 
that  the  great  majority  of  these  hallucinations  have  the  effect  of 
producing  a  painful  moral  impression.  Many  of  these  lunatics 
are  convinced  that  they  are  pursued  ;  they  see  people  armed 
with  knives  and  sticks  ;  they  hear  threatening  voices.  Some  of 
the  persons  present  are  transformed  into  devils,  or  assume 
other  dreadful  shapes.  Hallucinations  of  sight  and  hearing 
combined  are  the  most  common. f 

M.  Viardot,  author  of  a  translation  of  Nouvelles  Musses,  by 
M.  Gogol,  says  that  the  Zapororogue  Cossacks,  who  use  alcoholic 
liquors  immoderately,  are  very  subject  to  delirium  tremens. 
They  are  then  assailed  by  diabolical  visions.  He  cites  the  case 
of  an  individual,  who,  seeing  enormous  scorpions  stretching  their 
claws  out  to  seize  him,  died  in  convulsions  on  the  third  day, 
convinced  that  he  was  in  their  power.| 

These  painful  hallucinations  have  been  noticed  by  physicians 
of  all  nations.  We  read,  in  the  American  Journal  of  Insanity, 
of  animals  of  different  kinds,  which  the  sufferer  imagines  enter 
his  chamber  and  glide  into  the  bed  or  crawl  on  the  coverlet, 
making  menacing  gestures  or  frightful  grimaces. § 

We  have  noticed  the  existence  of  these  false  sensations  in  the 
first  edition  of  this  book. 

*  Ch.  Roesch,  De  l'abus  des  boissons  spiritueuses,  etc.  [Annal.  d'Hyg., 
XX.  p.  337,  et  seq.) 

t  Marcel,  De  la  Folie  causée  par  l'abus  des  boissons  alcoholiques,  thèse, 
Paris,  1847. 

X  Revue  des  Deux  Mondes. 

l  Annal.  Med.-Psych.,  Juillet,  1850,  p.  466. 


HALLUCINATIONS  IN  DELIRIUM  TREMENS.  165 

Amongst  the  numerous  facts  of  this  kind  that  are  every  year 
exhibited  in  my  establishment,  and  which  belong  almost  exclu- 
sively to  the  class  of  wine-venders,  I  will  relate  the  following  : — 

Case  LXIX. — M.,  twenty-seven  years  of  age,  short  and 
stout,  of  a  lymphatic  temperament,  had  contracted,  under  the 
influence  of  his  trade,  the  habit  of  drinking  a  considerable 
quantity  of  brandy.  Three  da.ys  before  he  was  received  into 
my  house,  his  parents  perceived  that  he  stammered  and  trembled 
all  over.  On  the  day  of  his  entrance  he  was  under  great  excite- 
ment ;  the  walls,  he  thought,  were  hung  with  skeletons,  phan- 
toms, and  devils,  who  climbed  up  and  then  disappeared.  At 
times,  this  phenomenon  occurred  on  a  space  no  larger  than  a 
sheet  of  paper.  The  objects  before  him  were  transformed  in 
the  strangest  manner.  Thus  he  brought  to  his  doctor  a  cup  and 
a  hat,  which  he  said  had  taken  the  forms  of  extraordinary  per- 
sonages. In  his  frenzy,  he  saw  his  wife  committing  the  most 
furious  outrages.  This  illusion  exasperated  him  ;  he  uttered 
deadly  threats,  which  decided  his  medical  attendant  to  transfer 
him  to  my  establishment.  When  I  interrogated  him,  he  related, 
in  a  trembling  voice,  all  the  visions  that  distressed  him  ;  he  said 
that  his  wife  denied  it,  but  that  it  was  mere  dissimulation  on  her 
part.  He  pointed  them  out  to  me  with  his  finger,  saying:  "Do 
you  not  see  them?"  At  night,  he  was  constantly  stooping 
down  to  seize  every  object,  no  matter  of  what  kind,  that  came 
out  from  the  floor.  Now  he  uttered  exclamations  of  terror  at 
the  aspect  of  frightful  figures  ;  now  he  made  signs  to  other 
visions  to  approach,  that  he  might  talk  with  them.  I  have  no- 
ticed elsewhere  the  frequency  of  this  symptom,  which  is  chiefly 
characterized  by  figures  of  animals,  reptiles,  and  insects.*  Two 
baths,  of  eight  hours  each,  with  cold  water  irrigation,  cured 
this  man,  on  whom  twenty-five  drops  of  opium  had  not  taken 
efiect. 

Case  LXX.  "I  was  called,"  says  Dr.  Alderson,  "  sometime 
since,  to  M.,  who,  at  that  time,  kept  a  wine  store.  As  I 
was  in  the  habit  of  attending  him,  and  knew  him  very  well,  I 
was  struck,  on  my  entrance,  at  the  strange  expression  of  his 

*  Brierre  de  Boismont,  De  I'hydropisie  chez  les  aliénés  buveurs,  et  de 
Ba  guérison  par  l'usage  modéré  du  vin  et  de  l'eau  de  vie  [Gazette  des 
Hôpitaux,  8  Août,  1844). 


166  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

countenance.  As  he  went  up  stairs  with  me,  I  noticed  that  he 
staggered.  On  entering  the  room,  he  tohl  me  how  much  he 
dreaded  being  treated  as  a  madman,  and  sent  to  the  asylum  at 
York,  whither  I  had  shortly  before  sent  one  of  his  drunken  com- 
panions. 'Why  do  you  fear?'  said  I;  'what  is  the  matter? 
Why  do  "you  look  so  terrified?'  He  sat  down,  and  related  the 
history  of  his  malady  as  follows:  '  Eight  or  ten  days  ago,'  said 
he,  '  I  had  gone  into  the  cellar  to  draw  some  liquor  for  a  girl, 
when  I  noticed  a  quantity  of  oyster-shells  on  the  ground,  which 
I  presumed  she  had  thrown  there.  I  begged  her  to  pick  them 
up  ;  when,  believing  me  to  be  drunk,  she  laughed  and  went  out. 
I  stooped  down  in  order  to  remove  them,  but,  to  my  astonish- 
ment, there  were  none.  I  was  preparing  to  leave  the  cellar, 
when  I  saw  a  soldier,  with  a  very  forbidding  countenance, 
attempt  to  enter.  I  asked  what  he  wanted,  but,  receiving  no 
other  answer  than  a  menacing  look,  I  sprang  up  to  seize  the 
rascal,  when,  to  my  great  surprise,  it  proved  to  be  only  a  phan- 
tom. A  cold  sweat  came  over  me,  and  I  shuddered  from  head 
to  foot.  Having  somewhat  recovered,  I  determined  to  try  and 
discover  the  nature  of  the  being  that  fled  before  me  into  the 
darkness  ;  but  he  disappeared,  and  was  replaced  by  other  fan- 
tastic figures,  some  of  which  only  appeared  in  the  distance.  I 
exhausted  myself  in  vain  efforts  to  approach  them.  Although 
I  am  very  courageous,  I  own  that  I  never  before  felt  so  terrified. 
During  the  whole  night,  I  was  tormented  with  apparitions  of 
living  friends,  or  of  those  who  had  long  been  dead  ;  I  was  con- 
tinually getting  out  of  bed  to  assure  myself  of  the  truth  or  false- 
hood of  these  visions.' 

"  Such  a  condition  was  followed  by  sad  consequences.  He 
could  not  distinguish  his  customers  from  phantoms,  so  that  his 
conduct  began  to  be  talked  about.  At  first,  it  was  attributed  to 
drunkenness  ;  but  was  at  length  discovered  to  proceed  from  some 
other  cause." 

"When  I  was  called  in,"  continued  Alderson,  "his  family 
were  convinced  that  he  was  mad,  although  they  acknowledged 
him  to  be  perfectly  rational  on  every  other  subject. 

"  Having  related  his  troubles,  the  patient  was  much  relieved, 
and  transported  with  joy  when  I  told  him  that  I  should  not  send 
him  to  York,  since  I  could  cure  him  in  his  own  house.  Whilst 
I  was  writing  a  prescription,  he  jumped  out  of  bed,  and  ran  to 


HALLUCINATIONS  IN  DELIRIUM  TREMENS.  167 

the  door.  'What  are  you  doing?'  cried  I.  He  appeared 
ashamed  and  confused. 

"  The  details  vre  are  ahout  to  give  ^vill  afford  a  clue  to  the  origin 
of  the  disease.  Before  his  attack,  he  had  had  a  quarrel  with  a 
drunken  soldier,  who  wanted  to  enter  the  store  at  an  unseason- 
able hour.  In  the  struggle,  the  soldier  drew  his  bayonet,  and 
struck  him  a  blow  on  the  temple,  which  divided  the  temporal 
artery.  He  lost  much  blood  before  the  surgeon  arrived.  He  had 
hardly  recovered  from  this  wound,  when  he  engaged  to  accom- 
pany a  friend,  who  had  undertaken,  for  a  wager,  to  walk  a  cer- 
tain distance  in  a  given  time  ;  he  walked  forty-two  miles  in  nine 
hours.  Delighted  at  the  success  of  his  friend,  he  passed  the 
whole  of  the  following  day  in  drinking  ;  but  for  some  time  after 
felt  so  unwell,  that  he  resolved  not  to  repeat  it.  During  the 
week  that  followed  this  abstinence,  his  disease  commenced.  It 
increased  continually  for  several  days,  and  did  not  allow  him  an 
instant  of  repose. 

"  He  could  not  rid  himself  of  these  visions  day  or  night, 
although  he  frequently  took  long  walks  for  the  purpose,  and 
went  into  society.  He  complained  to  me  of  being  bruised  by 
blows  given  to  him  by  a  carter,  who  came  every  night  to  his  bed- 
side, but  who  disappeared  as  soon  as  he  attempted  to  return  them. 
He  was  cured  by  leeches  and  active  purgatives.  The  phantoms 
first  ceased  to  appear  by  day  ;  once  the  carter  showed  himself 
in  the  interval  between  sleeping  and  waking.  Since  then,  he 
has  had  no  more  visions,  and  knows  what  reliance  to  place  upon 
ghosts."* 

Hallucinations  are  infinitely  various.  In  fact,  they  are,  as 
we  have  already  remarked,  a  reflex  of  the  characters  and  habits 
of  the  persons  attacked.  Sometimes,  however,  they  are  the 
result  of  an  association  of  ideas  arising  from  some  fortuitous 
circumstance. 

Hallucinations  occasioned  by  wine  may  have  very  disastrous 
results.  M.  R.  had  great  domestic  afilictions,  from  which  he 
could  find  no  relief  but  in  constant  drunkenness.  This  con- 
tinued indulgence  was  shortly  followed  by  derangement  of  intel- 
lect. He  one  day  saw  the  figure  of  an  extraordinary  being,  that 
beckoned  to  him  to  follow  ;  he  rose  precipitately,  followed  it, 

*  Edinburgh  Medical  and  Surgical  Journal,  vol.  vi.  p.  288, 


168  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

and  fell  into  the  street,  having  gone  through  the  window.  I 
found  him  bewildered  by  his  fall  ;  he  still  thought  he  saw  the 
phantom,  and  only  replied  confusedly  to  my  questions.  Some 
days  of  quiet  and  abstinence  restored  him  to  reason. 

Authors,  w^ho  have  written  on  this  disease,  have  described  a 
number  of  cases  of  these  disorders  of  the  sensibilities.  They  con- 
ceive, in  fact,  that  from  hence  may  arise  an  infinite  combination 
of  hallucinations.  This  may  show  itself  at  the  beginning  of  the 
disease,  a  circumstance  which  it  is  highly  important  to  remark, 
for,  if  one  of  our  patients  could  throw  himself  from  a  window  in 
pursuing  a  fantastic  figure,  it  is  easily  understood  that  another 
could  strike  a  person  down  whose  figure  may  appear  to  him  to 
be  that  of  a  monster,  an  enemy,  etc. 

Dr.  Delasiauve,  who  has  published  a  good  work  on  the  Dif- 
ferential Diagnosis  of  Delirium  TremenSy^  recognizes  these 
hallucinations,  but  thinks  that  this  fact  has  been  too  much 
generalized.  According  to  him,  the  terror  which  the  greater 
part  of  the  sufferers  feel,  proceeds  from  the  dangers  and  menaces 
from  Avhich  they  attempt  to  escape,  and  in  consequence  of  which, 
finding  no  relief,  they  sink  into  a  real  stupor. 

It  will  doubtless  be  asked,  why  we  have  not  combined  hallu- 
cinations occasioned  by  fermented  liquors  Avith  those  which  arise 
from  poisonous  substances?    Our  reply  is  this: — 

The  delirium  of  drunkards  is  a  very  common  malady,  which 
shows  itself  with  the  train  of  symptoms  of  insanity,  and  of 
which  the  original  cause,  the  abuse  of  fermented  liquors,  may 
be  itself  the  symptom  of  a  mental  malady.  The  hallucinations 
arising  from  poisonous  substances  are  transient;  they  are  very 
rare  in  our  country,  and  many  of  them  require  study.  More- 
over, their  action  on  the  animal  economy  is  quite  different  from 
that  of  fermented  liquors;  and  their  symptoms  are  not  really 
those  of  insanity.  We  therefore  think  that  these  hallucinations 
ought  to  be  comprised  in  a  special  chapter. 

Recapitulation. — The  delirium  of  drunkards  is  almost  always 
combined  with  hallucinations  and  illusions,  which  may  exhibit 
themselves  under  the  most  singular  forms,  and  give  rise  to  some 
of  the  disturbances  of  sight  described  in  the  treatises  ex  professo. 

The  hallucinations  of  delirium  tremens  merit  a  special  chap- 

*  Revue  Médicale  et  Annal.  Médic-psycho.,  Oct.,  1851. 


HALLUCINATIONS  IN  DELIRIUM  TREMENS.  169 

ter,  for  they  are  almost  always  of  a  distressing  character,  and 
give  rise  to  a  long  train  of  singular,  fantastic,  reprehensible,  and 
dangerous  actions. 

We  must  not  lose  sight  of  the  fact  that  hallucinations  are  not 
exclusively  produced  by  delirium  tremens,  and  that  many  mental 
affections  comprised  under  that  name,  but  which  differ  in  their 
symptoms,  although  having  the  same  origin,  may  also  be  com- 
bined with  hallucinations. 


CHAPTER    X. 

OF  HALLUCINATIONS  IN  NERVOUS  DISEASES. 

Hallucinations  in  catalepsy,  epilepsy,  hysteria,  liypocliondria,  chorea,  rage,  etc. — 

Recapitulation. 

We  have  now  considered  hallucinations  in  the  grand  divisions 
of  insanity. 

This  section  is  the  most  important  of  all,  and  it  might  furnish 
materials  for  volumes;  but  our  examination  of  it  is  necessarily 
restricted  to  the  limits  appropriated  to  our  subject,  and  to  the 
size  of  our  book. 

Hallucinations  are  not  only  exhibited  in  mental  diseases,  but 
appear  from  time  to  time,  and  sometimes  very  frequently,  in 
another  series  of  nervous  affections,  which  have  some  points  of 
affinity  with  insanity.  These  diseases  are  catalepsy,  epilepsy, 
hysteria,  hypochondria,  chorea,  chlorosis,  rage,  etc. 

The  febrile  delirium,  observable  in  lunatic  asylums,  will  serve 
as  a  natural  transition  to  acute  or  chronic,  inflammatory  or  other 
diseases,  which  are  combined  with  hallucinations.  This  last 
group  will  only  comprise  those  affections  that  most  frequently 
present  this  phenomenon,  or  in  which  they  offer  some  remarkable 
peculiarities  ;  otherwise,  we  should  enlarge  our  list  immoderately, 
and  without  benefit  to  science. 

1.  Of  Catalepsy  in  connection  tvitJi  Hallucinations. — The  early 
authors,  who  have  studied  catalepsy,  have  described  cases  that 
would  seem  to  prove  it  to  be  combined  with  hallucinations.  "We 
find  the  following  sentence  in  Frederick  Hoffman  :  "  Narrant 
mira  gaudia,  aut  phantasma  tragica,  visiones  divinas  consortium 
angelorum,  quin  et  futura  prgenunti.ari  videntur  ae  vatidicos  se 
simulant."  But,  on  reading  the  two  cases  stated  by  this  author, 
we  immediately  perceive  that  they  belong  to  ecstatic  catalepsy. 

The  difficulty  of  detecting  the  existence  of  hallucinations  in 
catalepsy,  rests  on  the  alteration  of  the  intellectual  faculties  in 


HALLUCINATIONS  IN  NERVOUS  DISEASES.  171 

this  singular  state.  They  are,  however,  almost  always  more  or 
less  entirely  suspended;  or,  as  M.  Bourdin  expresses  it,  veiled.* 
In  my  article  on  Catalepsy,f  I  have  likewise  stated  that,  during 
the  paroxysm,  the  senses  are  almost  entirely  suspended,  and  the 
mental  faculties  numbed.  Nevertheless,  we  perceive,  by  the 
observations  of  some  patients  and  the  perusal  of  cases  published 
by  some  authors,  that  there  are  cataleptics  who  have  dreams  or 
visions,  which  bear  relation  to  the  objects  which  have  so  power- 
fully affected  them.  In  a  case  recorded  in  the  Memoirs  of  the 
Académie  Royale  des  Sciences,  catalepsy  was  caused  by  suspense 
consequent  on  an  important  lawsuit,  and,  during  the  fit,  the  pa- 
tient gave  an  exact  account  of  the  business.  Dr.  Hamilton,  in 
his  fragmentary  memoirs,!  has  given  the  history  of  a  young 
person  who  heard  all  that  was  said  around  her. 

Experience  proves  thart  this  malady  may  precede  or  succeed 
a  fit  of  hysteria,  of  monomania,  or  somnambulism,  and  unite  so 
completely  with  these  affections,  as  to  make  it  almost  impossible, 
in  some  cases,  to  distinguish  the  primary  affection  from  the 
accessory  phenomena.  Thus,  although  we  admit  that  halluci- 
nations are  very  rare  in  catalepsy,  since  the  exercise  of  thought 
is  destroyed,  suspended,  or  singularly  diminished,  we  yet  think 
that  they  exist  in  some  cases. 

2.  Of  Epilepsy  in  connection  with  Hallucinations. — The  fre- 
quent union  of  epilepsy  and  insanity  leads  to  the  belief  that 
some  epileptics  are  subject  to  hallucination.  Arétée  was  the 
first  who  noticed  this  fact.§  In  the  examinations  made  at 
Salpêtrière,  Esquirol  found  that,  out  of  three  hundred  epileptic 
patients,  more  than  one-half  were  insane.  The  greater  number, 
indeed,  had  dementia  ;  but  some  were  maniacs  and  monomaniacs. 
Now,  we  know  that  dementia  is  far  from  being  an  obstacle  to 
the  production  of  hallucinations.  The  same  facts  have  been 
reported  at  Bicetre  and  Charenton. 

Many  of  these  patients,  before  the  suspension  of  all  sensibility, 
have  had  the  most  varied  hallucinations;  they  think  they  see 
luminous  bodies,  which  they  fear  will  consume  them.  They  see 
black  figures  that  expand,  become  enormous,  and  threaten  to 

*  Bourdin,  Traité  de  Catalepsie,  Paris,  18-13. 

t  Encyclopédie  Catholique.  %  Revue  Britannique. 

§  De  Caus.  et  Sign,  de  Morb.  Diut.,  lib.  i.  c.  5. 


172  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

envelop  them  in  darkness;  tliey  hear  noises  resembling  claps 
of  thunder,  the  rolling  of  drums,  the  clang  of  arms,  the  tumult 
of  combat  ;  they  smell  the  most  offensive  odors,  and  they  feel 
blows.  All  these  hallucinations  inspire  them  with  the  greatest 
terror.  Perhaps  it  is  this,  adds  Esquirol,  that  imprints  on  the 
countenance  of  most  epileptics  that  character  of  fear  or  indig- 
nation common  to  them  under  the  paroxysm.  These  facts  had 
not  escaped  Hibbert  and  Paterson,  who  called  special  attention 
to  the  hallucinations  observable  in  epilepsy. 

Dr.  Gregory  speaks,  in  his  lectures,  of  an  individual  subject  to 
attacks  of  epilepsy,  in  whom  the  seizure  was  always  preceded  by 
the  apparition  of  an  old  woman  in  a  red  cloak,  with  an  ill-natured 
countenance  and  a  hideous  figure,  who  advanced  and  struck  him 
on  the  head  with  her  cane.  He  had  scarcely  received  the  blow, 
when  he  fell  to  the  ground  in  convulsions.* 

Amongst  my  patients  were  several  in  whom  the  attack  was 
preceded  by  an  apparition,  and  others  in  whom  the  hallucination 
followed  the  fit. 

Case  LXXI.  M.  L.  was  attacked  ten  years  since  -with  a 
melancholy  monomania,  in  which  he  believed  himself  exposed  to 
the  persecutions  of  bitter  enemies.  He  frequently  heard  them 
make  impure  observations,  and  could  not  sleep  on  account  of  the 
conversations  they  held  near  to  him.  This  patient  had  been  sub- 
ject from  infancy  to  epileptic  fits  at  irregular  intervals,  preceded 
by  a  hallucination  that  came  like  a  flash.  In  the  instant  that 
preceded  the  loss  of  consciousness,  he  saw  a  diabolical  figure 
approach  him  like  the  shade  of  a  phantasmagoria;  he  cried  out: 
"Here  is  the  devil!"  and  fell  to  the  ground. 

Sometimes  fantastic  figures  speak  to  the  epileptic,  abusing 
him,  or  commanding  him  to  do  something.  It  is  almost  certain 
that  many  crimes  committed  by  these  unfortunate  beings,  and 
for  which  they  have  been  severely  punished,  have  been  the  result 
simply  of  hallucinations  of  sight  and  hearing. 

Case  LXXII.  "Jacques  Mounin,"  says  Berne,  "was  sub- 
ject to  epileptic  fits,  after  which  he  evinced  great  excitement. 
After  one  of  these  attacks,  he  rushed  like  a  madman  into  the 
open  country,  and  killed  three  men  in  succession.  He  was  fol- 
lowed by  the  inhabitants,  seized,  and  bound,  and,  being  interro- 

*  Paterson,  op.  cit. 


HALLUCINATIONS  IN  NERVOUS  DISEASES.  173 

gated,  said  he  very  well  recollected  having  killed  three  men, 
and  especially  a  relative,  whose  loss  he  deeply  regretted  ;  also, 
that,  during  his  epileptic  seizures,  he  saw  flames  all  around  him, 
and  that  the  color  of  blood  gave  him  pleasure."  * 

Several  of  our  insane  patients  have  described  themselves  as 
dazzled  by  a  large  red  light,  that  shone  like  lightning,  before 
the  fit.  In  the  greater  number  of  cases  that  we  have  collected, 
the  hallucination  took  place  prior  to  their  fall.  M.  Billodf  has 
given  the  case  of  a  young  man  who,  two  or  three  days  before  the 
attack,  in  a  vision,  saw  and  heard  his  mother  and  sister,  with 
whom  he  conversed. 

"The  paroxysms  of  epilepsy,"  says  Conolly,  "are  often  pre- 
ceded by  the  appearance  of  phantoms  and  spectres.  As  a  similar 
state  of  the  brain,  peculiar  to  this  hallucination,  may  exist  in 
other  cases  not  followed  by  paroxysms,  we  can  comprehend  how 
a  belief  in  supernatural  visions  may  be  the  result.  Amongst 
my  patients  is  a  gentleman  who,  on  the  point  of  losing  con- 
sciousness, always  saw  the  most  beautiful  landscapes. 

"Some  years  ago,  I  received  into  my  establishment  a  coun- 
tryman of  athletic  form,  who  came  to  be  treated  for  epileptic 
fits  that  attacked  him  every  month.  He  told  me  that,  in  one  of 
the  paroxysms  he  had  before  he  came  to  my  house,  he  was  in  the 
country  harvesting  ;  he  seized  a  scythe,  and,  driven  on  by  a 
voice,  rushed  through  the  fields,  cutting  right  and  left  at  every- 
thing in  his  path,  until,  exhausted  with  fatigue,  he  lay  down 
under  a  wall  and  slept.  What  would  have  prevented  him  from 
committing  a  crime?" 

M.  Brachet,  who  has  given  a  good  description  of  epileptic 
convulsions  in  children,  notices,  as  the  forerunner  to  the  fits, 
the  frightful  dreams  which  awaken  the  children  with  a  start, 
give  an  expression  of  terror  to  their  countenances,  and  make 
them  utter  screams  of  fear. 

In  the  epileptic  convulsions  that  occur  towards  the  close  of 
pregnancy,  during  confinement,  and  after  delivery,  hallucina- 
tions and  illusions  are  very  frequent. 

*  Brierre  de  Boismont,  Observations  Médico-légales  sur  la  Monomanie 
Homicide,  p.  24,  Paris,  1827. 

t  Considérations  sur  la  Symptomatologie  de  l'Epilepsie,  Annal.  Méd.- 
Psych.,  Nov.  1843,  p.  384. 


174  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

3.  Of  Hallucinations  in  Hysteria. — "  When  moral  disorders," 
says  Cabanis,  "are  excited  by  nervous  affections  of  the  gene- 
rative organs,  that  is  to  say,  by  hysteric  affections,  they  are 
accompanied  by  extraordinary  phenomena,  "which  appeared,  in 
times  of  ignorance,  to  be  the  intervention  of  some  supernatural 
being  ;  catalepsies,  ecstasies,  and  all  the  paroxysms  of  excite- 
ment, which  are  characterized  by  ideas  and  an  eloquence  above 
the  education  and  the  habits  of  the  individual,  arise  most  fre* 
quently  from  spasms  in  the  organs  of  generation."* 

It  is  singular  to  hear  Diderot  exclaim,  "No  conditions  are 
more  closely  correlated  than  ecstasies,  visions,  prophecies,  reve- 
lations, passionate  poetry,  and  hystericism."'f 

In  fact,  there  is  no  nervous  state  which  presents  a  greater 
variety  of  phenomena  than  hysteria.  A  practitioner,  M.  Honoré, 
whose  clinicals  we  have  long  had  the  honor  to  follow,  observed 
to  us,  in  pointing  out  his  female  ward,  "Almost  all  these 
patients  have  hysteria." 

In  listening  to  the  soliloquies  of  the  hysteric  patients,  in  the 
midst  of  incoherent  phrases  drawn  forth  by  spasms,  we  fre- 
quently hear  them  address  or  reply  to  beings  whom  they  imagine 
they  see,  or  who  appear  to  converse  with  them,  or  we  hear  them 
complain  of  the  fetid  air  they  breathe,  or  the  detestable  taste 
they  have  in  their  mouths. 

The  hallucinations  of  hysteria  may  be  divided  into  two  cate- 
gories, according  to  whether  they  are  manifested  in  a  state  of 
sanity,  or  whether  they  are  combined  with  mental  alienation. 

Case  LXXIII.  Madame  C.  has,  for  several  years,  been 
subject  to  attacks  of  hysteria;  at  their  approach,  she  becomes 
timid,  and  fearful,  until  her  terrors  augment  to  such  a  degree 
that  she  continually  calls  for  help.  This  exaggerated  alarm  is 
caused  by  atrocious-looking  figures,  which  she  thinks  she  sees 
during  the  paroxysm,  and  which  appear  to  make  grimaces  to 
abuse  her,  and  to  threaten  to  beat  her. 

Hibbert,  in  his  work  on  hallucinations,  says  that  when,  in 
hysteric  females,  the  excitement  has  reached  a  high  pitch,  re- 
sults are  produced  analogous  to  those  occasioned  by  deutoxide 
of  azote,  to  which  an  extraordinary  influence  on  the  blood  is 
attributed. 

*  Influence  des  Maladies  sur  les  Idées,    f  Mémoires,  t.  i.  Paris,  1842. 


HALLUCINATIONS  IN  NERVOUS  DISEASES.  175 

This  author  mentions  the  case  of  a  woman,  reported  by  For- 
tius, who  was  always  warned  of  the  approach  of  her  fit,  by  the 
apparition  of  herself  in  the  looking-glass.  Sauvage  asserts  that, 
during  their  paroxysms,  patients  have  seen  frightful  spectres. 

M.  Michéa  says,  that  hallucinations  were  very  frequent  in  the 
hysteric  epidemic  that  affected  the  nuns  of  Saint  Elizabeth  at 
Louviers.* 

Hysteria  may  exist  with  insanity,  and  these  cases  are  even 
common  ;  but  we  must  inquire  as  to  which  of  the  diseases  hallu- 
cination belongs.  Since  it  is  developed  at  the  commencement 
of  the  paroxysm,  or  during  its  progress,  and  ceases  with  it,  it 
may  surely  be  considered  as  a  complication  of  hysteria. 

Case  LXXIV.  Mademoiselle  S.,  forty-six  years  of  age,  be- 
lieves that  she  is  the  author  of  all  the  evils  in  the  world.  God 
has  deserted  her,  and  abandoned  her  to  Satan.  This  insanity, 
which  was  first  exhibited  in  melancholy,  is  now  characterized  by 
songs,  recitations,  and  soliloquies,  which,  with  her  voice  raised  to 
a  high  pitch,  she  utters  with  extreme  volubility. 

Mademoiselle  S.  feels  conscious  of  this  absurdity,  and  her 
liability  to  be  taken  for  a  mad  woman;  but  she  obeys  an  irresisti- 
ble voice  ;  nothing  on  earth  could  prevent  her  giving  utterance 
to  her  feelings.  This  state  of  excitement  is  succeeded  by  strong 
hysterics,  and  she  struggles  in  long-continued  and  violent  con- 
vulsions. The  seat  of  the  spasm  is  in  the  uterus  :  when  the  hand 
is  placed  on  that  region,  the  movements  of  the  patient  become 
modified,  and  she  tells  of  all  that  is  passing  in  her  abdomen. 
During  these  attacks,  the  figures  of  the  attendants  are  trans- 
formed. She  sees  the  devil,  and  hideous  phantoms  ;  she  strongly 
believes  she  is  possessed;  utters  piercing  cries,  supplicates  to 
be  delivered  from  these  apparitions,  bursts  into  shouts  of 
laughter,  and  melts  into  tears  ;  then,  at  the  close  of  some  hours, 
returns  to  her  natural  condition. 

With  many  insane  hysteric  women  who  have  come  under  our 
notice,  the  hallucinations  were  of  an  amorous  nature  ;  others, 
when  under  the  influence  of  religious  impressions,  are  visited  by 
angels  or  demons,  in  which  case  the  hallucinations  are  influenced 
by  the  laws  which  usually  govern  them. 

*  Délire,  Des  Sensations,  p.  298,  Paris,  1846. 


176  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

M.  Macario*  presents  us  with  several  interesting  examples  : — 

Hysteria,  in  mental  alienation,  is  frequently  accompanied  by 
erotomania  and  nymphomania.  It  is  probable  that  education, 
in  repressing  these  instincts,  had  only  rendered  them  more  vivid 
and  strong,  by  reason  of  their  prolonged  suppression. 

It  is  usually  in  the  commencement  of  hysteria  that  hallucina- 
tions are  presented;  they  are  also  observed  during  the  fit  when 
the  faculties  are  partially  retained  ;  and  they  may  be  exhibited 
at  the  close  of  the  seizure.  Hallucinations  of  sight  and  hearing 
are  the  most  common,  but  all  the  senses  may  be  affected;  and 
this  is  also  the  case  with  illusions. 

4.  Of  Hallucinations  in  Hypochondria. — The  hypochondriac, 
by  his  moral  condition,  truly  represents  a  lens,  where  everything 
converges,  and  is  necessarily  predisposed  to  hallucinations  and 
illusions.  Thus  incessant  study,  the  fixedness  of  which  nothing 
can  disturb,  is  favorable  to  their  production.  It  is  common  for 
the  patients  to  complain  of  detonations,  hissings,  musical  sounds, 
and  extraordinary  voices  which  they  hear  in  the  brain.  "These 
persons,"  says  M.  Dubois  d'Amiens,  "think  that  their  brain  is 
efi'ervescing  ;  that  it  has  dried  up,  or  withered  ;  and  they  say 
they  are  about  to  lose  their  sight,  their  hearing,  etc."t 

Many  think  that  a  snake  or  a  fish  is  moving  over  different 
parts  of  their  bodies.  One  lady,  whose  case  M.  Falret  has  de- 
scribed in  his  work,  said  her  skin  appeared  to  be  covered  with 
scales  like  those  of  a  carp,  but  she  recognized  her  mistake  on 
touching  it.  Some  complain  of  a  sensation  of  heat  and  cold 
simultaneously,  or  successively,  in  different  parts  of  their  bodies. 

Hallucinations  may  accompany  hypochondria  without  any  real 
insanity;  but,  says  Louyer-Villermay,  "when  we  see  the  fre- 
quent union  of  melancholy  and  mental  alienation  with  hypo- 
chondria, we  can  readily  conceive  that  a  sort  of  affinity  exists 
between  these  diverse  kinds  of  madness." 

Zimmerman  becomes  hypochondriac;  and  this  celebrated  phy- 

*  Paralysie  hystérique  (Annal.  Médico-psych.,  Janv.  l'844,  pp.  G8,  72, 
77). 

t  Histoire  philosophique  de  l'Hypochondrie  et  de  l'Hystérie,  Paris, 
1837,  1  vol.  in  8vo.  See  also  the  work  by  M.  Brachet  on  Hypochondria, 
1  vol.  8vo.  1844;  that  of  M.  Michen  on  the  same  subject;  a  Treatise  on 
Hypochondria  and  Suicide,  by  M.  Falret  ;  and  a  Practical  Treatise  on 
Nervous  Diseases,  by  M.  Sandras,  1851,  torn.  i.  p.  514. 


HALLUCINATIONS  IN  NERVOUS  DISEASES.  177 

sician,  author  of  two  highly  esteemed  treatises,  is  incessantly 
complaining  of  his  bad  digestion.  His  work  on  "Solitude" 
constantly  breathes  a  melancholy  strain.  The  French  Revolu- 
tion increases  his  mournful  ideas;  soon,  he  experiences  wakeful- 
ness, optical  illusions,  and  apparitions  of  phantoms  during  the 
night.  With  these  symptoms  are  combined  derangement  of  the 
functions  of  the  stomach,  tremblings,  violent  giddiness,  espe- 
cially on  the  use  of  coffee;  syncope  after  the  least  exercise; 
vacillation,  with  a  want  of  confidence,  and  obstinacy  ;  a  slight 
wandering  and  confusion  in  his  ideas  ;  and  pusillanimity,  which 
is  quite  at  variance  with  his  usual  character. 

Among  the  many  phenomena  accompanying  hypochondria, 
we  perceive,  in  its  early  stage,  an  extreme  desire  for  solitude, 
which  increases,  and,  assuming  the  character  of  an  exclusive 
delirium,  excites  a  constant  fear  in  the  patient  that  an  enemy 
will  enter  and  devastate  his  house.* 

Georget,  whose  works  may  always  be  advantageously  con- 
sulted, says  that  some  of  these  patients  finally  lose  their  senses, 
but  that  this  is  a  rare  termination  of  the  affection.  Having  had 
a  longer  practice  than  that  celebrated  physician,  we  dissent 
from  his  opinion  ;  and  think  that  the  link  between  hypochon- 
driasis and  insanity  is  closer  than  that  physician  imagined. 

Case  LXXV.  M.  de  L.  has  been  distressed,  for  twenty  years, 
with  the  notion  that  he  has  an  acute  disease  in  the  stomach  and 
bowels,  which,  however,  does  not  prevent  him  from  eating  of 
everything  with  a  good  appetite.  He  also  feels,  in  the  left  hy- 
pochondriac region  a  tumor  which  experienced  physicians  can- 
not discover.  About  two  years  ago,  he  began  to  think  he  was 
surrounded  by  enemies;  that  everybody  looked  askance  at  him; 
and  that  grimaces  were  made  at  him.  Frequently  believing 
that  he  heard  abuse  and  menaces,  he  attacked  inoffensive  per- 
sons, who  had  not  even  looked  at  him. 

M.  A.  De  G.,  the  author  of  several- important  works,  and 
whose  melancholy  adventure  was  published  in  all  the  journals, 
believed  at  first  that  his  digestive  organs  were  diseased;  then  he 
was  persuaded  that  some  persons  were  seeking  to  poison  him. 

*  Louyer  Villermay,  Traité  des  Maladies  Nerveuses,  et  en  2)articiilier  de 
l'Hystérie  et  de  l'HjpocLioûdrie,  t.  i.  p.  420, 

12 


178  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

He  saw  individuals  following  him  everywhere,  taking  aim  at  him, 
seeking  to  stab  him,  and  endeavoring  to  enter  his  chamber. 

Case  LXXVI.  Madame  la  Comtesse  de  M.,  at  a  critical 
period  of  life,  imagined  she  had  an  enlargement  of  the  matrix. 
Probably  a  few  wrinkles,  and  some  gray  hairs,  were  the  founda- 
tion of  this  unfortunate  conception.  I  say  unfortunate,  since 
she  found  a  surgeon  who  encouraged  her  in  her  belief.  From 
this  moment,  therefore,  the  lady,  naturally  excitable,  had  no 
rest.  Her  imaginary  disease  imposed  on  her  a  thousand  priva- 
tions ;  and  her  whole  conversation  was  of  remedies.  After 
passing  several  months  in  this  perpetual  panic,  she  began  to 
complain  of  a  noise  in  the  left  side  of  her  head;  she  at  times 
likened  it  to  the  pufiBng  of  a  cigar;  at  others  to  the  rushing  of 
a  river.  This  noise  became  sometimes  so  excessive  as  to  agitate 
her  extremely. 

M.  Itard  has  described  several  similar  cases.* 
Case  LXXVII.  M.  J.,  aged  thirty  years,  a  German  profes- 
sor, had  for  several  years  been  much  troubled  by  pains  in  the 
intestines.  The  most  striking  symptom  was  a  sort  of  embarrass- 
ment, a  restraint,  which  he  had  vainly  endeavored  to  overcome. 
This  young  man,  who  had  received  an  education  superior  to  his 
station,  was  checked  by  every  obstacle  that  could  obstruct  the 
road  to  fortune.  Physical  and  moral  suffering  was  added  to  the 
derangement  of  his  intellectual  faculties  ;  he  was  brought  to  my 
establishment.  On  his  arrival,  he  told  me  that  his  abdominal 
disease  was  doubtless  the  cause  of  the  hypochondria  by  which 
he  was  often  attacked;  that  it  had  increased  until  it  had  in- 
fluenced his  brain,  given  incoherency  to  his  ideas,  and  made  all 
his  actions  aimless.  His  fixed  idea  was  that  his  friends  injured 
him,  placed  him  under  magnetic  influence,  and  that  finally  they 
had  introduced  a  magnetizer  into  his  abdomen.  He  endeavored 
to  explain  to  me  how  the  magnetizer  acted  in  the  inside  of  his 
body.  It  was  interesting,  in  listening  to  him,  to  follow  out  the 
train  of  ideas  through  which  he  had  successively  passed  to  com- 
pose what  now  entirely  occupied  his  mind.  He  held  conver- 
sations with  the  magnetizer,  whom  he  could  not  persuade  to 
depart. 

*  Traité  des  Maladies  des  Oreilles,  2d  edition,  revue  par  M.  Bousquet, 
1842,  2  vols.  8vo. 


HALLUCINATIONS  IN  NERVOUS  DISEASES.  179 

Two  blisters  on  the  legs,  nutritious  food,  and  the  judicious  oc- 
cupation of  his  mind  in  the  analysis  of  important  works,  wrought 
a  rapid  change,  and  we  soon  restored  him  cured,  to  his  friends. 

5.  Of  Hallucinations  in  Chorea. — Hallucination  is  now  con- 
sidered very  rare  in  chorea.  Bouteille  only  mentions  one  case.* 
Dr.  See,  it  is  said,  described  several  examples  in  his  work,  to 
which  a  prize  was  awarded  by  the  Académie  de  Médecine.  But 
it  was  not  thus  in  the  epidemic  chorea  of  the  Middle  Ages. 
"  During  their  dance,"  says  M.  Ilecker,  "the  afflicted  perceived 
apparitions  ;  they  neither  saw  nor  heard  what  was  passing  around 
them;  and  their  imaginations  presented  spirits  whose  names 
they  pronounced,  or  rather  shouted.  Several  of  them  after- 
wards insisted  that  they  were  plunged  into  streams  of  blood, 
which  made  them  jump  so  high.  Others,  in  their  ecstasy,  per- 
ceived the  heavens  open,  with  the  Virgin  and  the  Saviour 
enthroned,  according  to  the  different  views  which  the  belief  of 
the  age  impressed  on  their  imaginations. "f 

M.  Nivet  has  described  two  cases  of  false  perception  of  the 
sight  in  individuals  attacked  with  the  dry  colic. I  M.  Tanque- 
rel's  work§  contains  several  examples. 

M.  Valleix||  cites  facts  relative  to  buzzings,  hissings,  and  cold 
sensations. 

6.  Pipage. — "  The  delirium  regarded  as  one  of  the  symptoms  of 
rage,"  says  Trolliet,  "and  which  belongs  less  to  that  disease 
than  to  frenzy,  has  occasioned  more  than  one  mistake.  When 
it  is  exhibited,  it  is  in  an  advanced  stage  of  the  affection." 

That  author,  however,  cites  several  examples  of  hallucinations 
amongst  the  patients  whom  he  attended  in  the  hospital  at  Lyons. 
One  of  the  two  expired  in  giving  violent  blows  to  his  bed,  believ- 
ing he  was  fighting  an  enraged  wolf.  Another,  in  struggling 
with  a  wild  beast,  died  as  he  overcame  him.^ 

*  Traité  de  la  Danse  de  Saint  Guy,  p.  145,  181G. 

f  Ilecker,  Mémoire  sur  la  Choree  de  Moyen  âge,  tî-aduit  de  1'  Allemand 
par  M.  Ferdinand  Dubois  {Annal.  d'Hi/g.  et  de  Médecine  légale,  1834,  t.  xii. 
p.  314). — A.  Brierre  de  Boisraont,  De  l'influence  de  la  civilisation  sur  le  dé- 
veloppement de  la  Folie  [Annal.  d'Hygiène,  id.  t.  xxi.  p.  183). — Sandras, 
Maladies  Nerveuses,  t.  i.  p.  165. 

X  Mém.  sur  la  colique  saturnine,  Gaz.  Méd.,  No.  2,  p.  32,  1837. 

§  Le  Traité  des  Maladies  de  Plomb,  Ijy  M.  Tanquerel  Desplanquea. 

Il  Traité  des  Névralgies,  Paris,  1851,  p.  58,  91,  532. 

il  Trolliet,  Nouveau  Traité  de  la  Rage, p.  201,  205,  and  206,  Paris,  1820, 


180  ox  HALLUCINATIONS. 

Felix  Plater  speaks  of  a  woman  wlio  was  washing  linen  under 
a  bridge,  and,  being  left  by  her  companions,  was  seized  with 
fear.  She  saw  a  light  gleam  from  the  arch  of  the  bridge;  the 
torrent  increase,  overflow,  and  rush  impetuously  along.  On  her 
return  home,  she  showed  every  symptom  of  sufi"ocation.* 

Recapitulation. — Hallucinations  are  very  rare  in  catalepsy, 
on  account  of  the  suspension  of  the  intellectual  faculties.  Some 
patients,  however,  have  dreams  and  visions,  and  can  give  an  ac- 
count of  their  state. 

The  frequent  occurrence  of  epilepsy  with  insanity,  explains 
why  hallucinations  are  more  common  in  this  malady  than  in  the 
preceding. 

Hallucinations  in  epilepsy  being  generally  of  a  sad  or  alarm- 
ing character,  it  is  possible,  to  a  certain  extent,  to  explain  by 
this  influence  the  nature  of  the  fear,  or  the  indignation  usu- 
ally exhibited  by  these  sufferers  during  the  fit;  and  probably 
the  reprehensible  actions  they  frequently  commit,  may  be  ex- 
plained in  the  same  way. 

Hysteria  is  often  combined  with  hallucinations.  According 
to  Cabanis,  catalepsies,  ecstasies,  and  all  the  paroxysms  of  ex- 
citement which  are  characterized  by  ideas,  and  by  eloquence 
superior  to  the  education  and  habits  of  the  individual,  have  their 
source  most  frequently  in  the  organs  of  generation. 

The  hallucinations  of  hysterical  persons,  may  occur  in  a  state 
of  sanity,  or  they  may  be  exhibited  in  mania,  monomania,  and 
dementia. 

When  hallucinations  exist  with  insane  hysteric  patients,  it  is 
necessary  to  ascertain  to  which  of  these  diseases  they  are  related. 

Hallucinations  in  hysteria  are  generally  observed  at  the  com- 
mencement of  the  afi"ection;  they  may  likewise  be  manifested 
during  the  fit  when  the  understanding  is  not  destroyed,  or  at  the 
close  of  the  crisis. 

The  fixedness  of  ideas  in  hypochondria  is  favorable  to  the 
production  of  hallucinations.  As  in  other  nervous  affections, 
hallucinations  of  sio-ht  and  hearing  are  most  common. 

Hallucinations  may  be  exhibited  in  hypochondria,  where  reason 
does  not  seem  to  be  impaired;  but,  most  generally,  they  are 
combined  with  insanity. 

*  Op.  cit.,  p.  90. 


HALLUCINATIONS  IN  NERVOUS  DISEASES.  181 

Hallucinations  are  now  rare  in  chorea;  they  were  frequent  in 
epidemic  chorea. 

The  combinations  of  catalepsy,  epilepsy,  hysteria,  and  hypo- 
chondria with  monomania  and  different  forms  of  madness,  their 
transition  from  one  form  to  the  other,  and  their  reunion,  by  esta- 
blishing numerous  connections  between  these  various  affections, 
give  a  reason  why  hallucinations  are  so  often  observable. 

Ohlorosis  is  combined  with  hallucinations  in  a  certain  number 
of  cases.  This  state  of  the  system  is  explained  by  the  excited 
condition  of  the  nervous  system  at  the  time  of  the  affection. 

Hallucinations  sometimes  occur  in  rage,  in  dry  colic,  and  in 
several  nervous  affections. 


CHAPTER    XI. 

OF  HALLUCINATIONS  IN  NIGHTMARE  AND  DREAMS. 

Section  I. — Hallucinations  in  nightmare — Its  analogy  to  madness — Varieties  of 
nightmare — Its  coexistence  ■with  reason  and  with  insanitj'. 

Section  II. — Hallucinations  in  dreams — Analogy  between  dreams  and  hallucina- 
tions— Two  divisions  :  physiolofjical  dreams,  and  pathological  dreams — Psycho- 
logical condition  of  dreams — Diiference  between  hallucinations  in  dreams  and 
those  of  waking  hours — Hypnagogical  hallucinations — Physiological  studies 
— Coincidence  of  dreams  with  events — Presentiments — Facts  in  support  there- 
of— Persistence  of  the  intelligent  principle  in  dreams — Pathological  dreams — 
Influence  of  dominant  ideas  on  dreams — Importance  of  dreams  in  the  insane 
— Nocturnal  epidemic  hallucinations — Periodical  hallucinations — They  may 
become  permanent — Recapilulation. 

SECT.  I.— OF  HALLUCINATIONS  IN  NIGHTMAEE. 

Whosoever  has  carefully  studied  nervous  diseases,  can  have 
no  doubt  as  to  the  analogy  of  nightmare  and  madness;  the 
curious  facts  that  we  have  witnessed,  leave  no  uncertainty  on 
the  subject.  A  distinguished  writer  believed  that  he  flew  in  the 
air.  We  have  seen  him,  under  the  influence  of  this  hallucina- 
tion, uttering  inarticulate  sounds — his  hair  bristling,  his  counte- 
nance full  of  terror.  At  such  times  he  would  exclaim:  "How 
surprising!  I  fly  like  the  wind!  I  pass  over  mountains  and  pre- 
cipices!" For  several  seconds  after  awaking,  he  still  imagined 
himself  floating  in  the  air. 

One  species  of  nightmare  we  have  often  noticed.  The  subject 
of  it  feels  that  he  is  skimming  over  the  ground  with  extreme 
rapidity,  pursued  or  threatened  by  dangers  from  which  he  is 
conscious  of  an  utter  inability  to  escape.  He  awakes  with  a 
vague  sense  of  uneasiness,  and  experiences  the  fatigue  resulting 
from  a  long  walk. 

In  nervous  persons,  nightmare  is  occasioned  by  painful  emo- 
tions. A  young  and  delicate  lady,  very  excitable,  was  ac- 
customed to  avoid  listening  to  the  recital  of  tales  of  terror, 


HALLUCINATIONS  IN  NIGHTMARE  AND  DREAMS.  183 

knowing  from  experience  that  disturbed  slumber  would  result 
from  the  indulgence.  A  departure  from  her  usual  precaution 
would  be  followed  by  nightmare,  with  its  attendant  horrors. 
Towards  midnight  she  would  become  restless  ;  sighs  and  broken 
sentences,  accompanied  with  extreme  agitation,  would  follow, 
and  her  body  become  bathed  in  perspiration.  On  being  awakened 
by  her  husband,  she  would  utter  fearful  cries,  fancying  she 
was  surrounded  by  robbers  and  assassins  ready  to  destroy  her. 

In  infancy  and  adolescence,  the  nightmare  makes  its  ap- 
proaches in  the  following  manner:.  The  individual  attacked  by 
it  imagines  himself  on  the  edge  of  the  bed  or  of  a  precipice, 
and  about  to  fall.  He  feels  that  nothing  can  save  him  from  the 
danger  ;  and  he  looks  with  an  eye  of  terror  on  the  gulf  below  ; 
an  irresistible  force  drives  him  on,  and  he  awakes  with  the  shock. 
Sometimes  the  images  that  affect  children  are  of  so  gay  a  nature 
as  to  produce  immoderate  laughter. 

At  other  times,  the  patient  imagines  that  robbers  are  break- 
ing into  his  house  ;  he  hears  them  coming  up  the  stairs  ;  he 
tries  to  fly  ;  an  irresistible  power  fixes  him  to  the  spot.  He 
is  exhausted  with  fruitless  efforts  ;  he  feels  as  though  he 
were  transformed  into  a  block  of  stone,  incapable  of  motion  ; 
or,  if  he  is  standing,  as  though  his  feet  had  taken  root  in  the 
soil.  The  individual  who  is  a  prey  to  this  hallucination,  ex- 
hibits extreme  agitation  ;  he  wishes  to  cry  out,  to  call  for  help, 
but  his  voice  fails  him;  he  cannot  utter  a  sound.  The  immi- 
nence of  the  danger,  even  the  mortal  blow,  hastens  the  crisis  ;  he 
awakes,  filled  with  terror,  bathed  in  perspiration,  with  a  quick- 
ened pulse,  and  a  sensation  of  oppression  and  uneasiness,  which 
ceases,  however,  in  a  few  seconds. 

Among  the  numerous  varieties  of  nightmare,  we  must  not  pass 
over  that  which  consists  in  believing  one's  self  condemned  to 
death.  We  see  all  the  preparations  for  execution  ;  we  mount 
the  scaffold  ;  the  head  falls  ;  and  yet  we  are  still  conscious,  as 
if  nothing  had  happened.  A  peculiarity  that  we  have  nowhere 
seen  mentioned  is,  that  a  person  who  has  suffered  from  an  attack 
of  nightmare  may  be  tormented  with  it  several  days  in  succes- 
sion, at  the  same  hour  and  under  a  similar  form.  A  lady  felt 
uneasy  in  her  sleep  ;  soon,  there  appeared  an  enemy,  who  pur- 
sued her  in  order  to  kill  her.  She  awoke  with  a  start  ;  on  the 
next  day  the  same  vision  returned,  and  continued  to  return  for 
several  days  in  succession.     As  the  hour  of  rest  approached, 


184  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

she  was  oppressed  by  an  indefinable  terror  ;  lier  sleep  was 
troubled,  and  she  yielded  to  it,  despite  of  herself.  By  degrees, 
this  painful  sensation  diminished  and  she  became  calm. 

A  young  man  told  us  that,  for  several  successive  nights,  per- 
sons placed  themselves  at  the  foot  of  his  bed  and  attempted  to 
draw  off  the  sheets  ;  a  struggle  occurred  ;  they  succeeded,  and 
as  soon  as  he  was  entirely  uncovered,  the  fit  subsided. 

In  other  cases,  the  hallucinations  of  nightmare,  however  pain- 
ful, exhibit  no  external  signs  of  their  presence.  A  physician 
who  is  accustomed  to  reading  in  his  bed,  has  been  told  by  his 
wife,  on  her  awaking,  that  she  had  had  a  long  and  frightful 
nightmare  ;  he  had  not  perceived  in  her  the  slightest  agitation. 

It  may  sometimes  happen  that  persons  subject  to  this  in- 
disposition are  conscious  of  the  non-reality  of  what  is  passing; 
and  reason  with  themselves  as  though  they  were  awake,  in  order 
to  prove  that  these  sensations  are  false.  A  young  lady  saw  the 
wall  opposite  open,  and  a  death's  head  come  out  and  fix  itself 
on  to  a  skeleton,  which  advanced  towards  her.  Convinced  that 
this  apparition  was  an  illusion,  she  talked  aloud  to  herself  to 
gain  courage;  but  the  uneasiness  always  ended  in  awaking  her. 
Some  authors  have  described  a  variety  of  nightmare,  in  which 
it  appears  that  a  cat,  or  some  other  animal,  or  a  monster,  places 
itself  on  the  stomach.  Great  oppression  is  felt  in  that  region; 
every  effort  is  made  to  get  rid  of  this  imaginary  being,  whose 
weight  stifles,  whilst  it  freezes  the  blood  with  horror.* 

In  the  different  cases  here  mentioned,  the  hallucinations  in 
nightmare  have  ceased  on  waking,  but  it  may  happen  that  they 
will  continue  in  a  waking  state,  when  they  are  taken  for  realities. 
The  nightmare  is  then  combined  with  mental  alienation. 

Case  LXXVIII.  In  a  convent  in  Auvergne,  an  apothecary 
was  sleeping  with  several  persons;  being  attacked  with  night- 
mare, he  charged  his  companions  with  throwing  themselves  on 
him,  and  attempting  to  strangle  him.  They  all  denied  the 
assertion,  telling  him  that  he  had  passed  the  night  without 
sleeping,  and  in  a  state  of  high  excitement.  In  order  to  con- 
vince him  of  the  fact,  they  prevailed  on  him  to  sleep  alone  in  a 
room  carefully  closed;  having  previously  given  him  a  good  sup- 
per, and  even  made  him  partake  of  food  of  a  flatulent  nature. 

*  Encyclopédie  Catholique,  liv,  li.  p.  48. 


HALLUCINATIONS  IN  NIGHTMARE  AND  DREAMS.  185 

The  paroxysm  returned;  but,  on  this  occasion,  he  swore  that  it 
was  the  work  of  a  demon,  Avhose  face  and  figure  he  perfectly 
described. 

Case  LXXIX.  An  old  soldier,  aged  fifty-two,  afflicted  with 
hemorrhoids,  very  weak-minded,  and  subject  to  fits  of  anger, 
became  so  much  disturbed  at  having  no  children,  that  he  lost  his 
senses.  After  a  month  of  treatment,  during  which  paroxysms 
of  anger  would  frequently  occur,  he  was  sent  to  Paris,  where 
various  means  were  employed  to  renew  the  hemorrhoidal  flux. 
The  treatment  was  very  successful;  but  one  night,  during  the 
summer,  the  patient  started  from  a  profound  sleep,  shouted  out, 
dragged  his  heavy  bed  against  the  casement,  barricaded  the 
door,  and  called  for  help.  Attendants  arriving  with  a  light,  he 
was  found  to  be  very  much  alarmed  ;  his  countenance  pale,  his 
eye  fixed,  and  his  body  covered  with  perspiration;  by  degrees, 
he  was  calmed  down  and  induced  to  return  to  bed. 

On  the  following  day,  he  explained  the  disturbances  of  the 
night,  by  saying,  that  four  men  had  thrown  themselves  on  him 
when  he  was  asleep,  and  had  attempted  to  kill  him;  that,  feeling 
himself  almost  stifled,  he  succeeded  in  throwing  them  off",  and, 
seeing  them  escape  through  the  window,  he  had  carried  his  bed 
there,  to  prevent  their  returning  by  that  opening. 

Here  the  nightmare  seized  an  individual  already  suffering 
under  another  disease  ;  nevertheless,  it  presented  all  its  distinc- 
tive characteristics.  The  preceding  combination  is,  however, 
frequent,  and  Esquirol,  who  mentioned  the  case  to  the  author, 
assured  him  that  he  had  frequently  remarked  it  in  insane  persons 
under  his  care.* 

We  may  notice,  amongst  other  forms  of  nightmare,  that  in 
which  the  subject  of  it  imagines  that  he  sees  a  monstrous  horse, 
a  deformed  man,  an  old  woman,  an  evil  genius,  and  even  apes, 
who  jump  on  to  the  breast  and  sit  or  lie  there.  The  vision  of  a 
cat  is  common  with  children. 

Nightmare  is  sometimes  a  precursory  or  concomitant  symptom 
of  epilepsy,  hypochondria,  mania,  hysteria,  and  somnambulism. 
Sauvages  has  published  a  case  Avhich  he  borrowed  from  Fortis. 

Case  LXXX.  "A  man  lately  came  to  me  saying:  'Sir,  if 
you  do  not  help  me,  I  am  lost  ;  I  am  sinking  into  marasmus  ; 

*  Dubosquet,  Dissertatiun  sur  le  Cauchemar,  p.  8,  1815. 


186  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

see  how  pcale  and  thin  I  am.  I,  who  was  always  so  stout  and 
good-looking,  am  nothing  but  skin  and  bone.'  'What  ails  you?' 
I  inquired  ;  'to  what  cause  do  you  attribute  your  malady?'  'I 
will  tell  you,'  he  replied  ;  '  and  you  will  certainly  be  astonished. 
Almost  every  night,  a  woman,  whose  form  is  not  unknown  to  me, 
throws  herself  on  my  breast,  and  presses  me  so  violently,  that  I 
can  scarcely  breathe  ;  when  I  endeavor  to  cry  out,  she  stifles 
me,  and  the  more  I  try  to  raise  my  voice,  the  more  powerless 
do  I  become.  Moreover,  I  can  neither  use  my  arms  to  defend 
myself,  nor  my  feet  to  fly  ;  she  holds  me  bound  and  strangled.' 

'"This  is  nothing  surprising,'  I  remarked,  immediately  recog- 
nizing nightmare  ;  'it  is  nothing  but  a  phantom,  an  efi'ect  of  the 
imagination.'  'A  phantom!'  cried  he;  'an  efl"ect  of  the  ima- 
gination !  I  tell  you  what  I  have  seen  with  my  eyes  and  touched 
with  my  hands.  Frequently,  when  I  am  awake,  she  springs 
upon  me  ;  I  endeavor  to  repulse  her  in  vain  ;  fear,  anxiety,  and 
her  superior  strength,  throw  me  into  a  state  of  helplessness  that 
makes  me  incapable  of  defence.  I  have  run  hither  and  thither, 
constantly  seeking  relief  from  my  miserable  state:  but,  do  what 
I  will,  neither  by  prayers  nor  menaces  can  I  persuade  her  to 
cease  tormenting  me.' — I  attempted  in  vain  to  persuade  this  man 
of  the  absurdity  of  his  ideas  ;  however,  after  '  two  or  three  con- 
versations, he  began  to  be  convinced  of  the  nature  of  his  malady, 
and  to  entertain  hopes  of  a  cure.* 

The  hallucinations  of  nightmare  have  sometimes  occurred  in 
an  epidemic  form. 

Case  LXXXI.  "  The  first  battalion  of  the  regiment  of  Latour 
d'Auvergne,  in  which  I  was  first  surgeon,"  says  Dr.  Parent, 
"  when  in  garrison  at  Palmi,  in  Calabria,  received  orders  to 
leave  the  place  at  midnight,  and  hasten  to  Tropea,  in  order  to 
oppose  the  disembarkation  of  a  flotilla.  It  was  in  the  month  of 
June  ;  the  troops  had  forty  miles  to  march  ;  they  departed  at 
midnight,  and  did  not  reach  their  destination  until  seven  o'clock 
at  night,  having  rested  but  a  short  time,  and  sufi"ered  consider- 
ably from  the  heat  of  the  sun.  On  arriving,  the  soldiers  found 
their  mess  and  lodging  prepared  for  them. 

"  As  the  battalion  had  come  from  the  farthest  point  and  was 
the  last  to  arrive,  the  worst  barrack  was  assigned  to  it  ;  and 

*  Jason,  De  Morbis  Cerebri,  etc.,  cap.  xxvi.,  et  Schœnkius,  Obs.  253. 


HALLUCINATIONS  IN  NIGHTMARE  AND  DREAMS.  187 

eight  Imndred  men  were  placed  in  a  spot,  "wliich  ordinarily  would 
not  hold  more  than  half  the  number.  They  were  huddled  to- 
gether on  the  floor,  on  straw,  without  coverings,  and  consequently 
could  not  undress.  It  was  an  old  deserted  abbey.  The  in- 
habitants informed  us  that  the  battalion  could  not  rest  in  that 
place,  because  it  was  nightly  haunted  by  ghosts,  and  that  seve- 
ral regiments  had  already  made  the  unfortunate  attempt.  We 
laughed  at  their  credulity  ;  but  what  was  our  surprise,  at  mid- 
night, to  hear  the  most  alarming  cries  proceeding  from  every 
part  of  the  barrack,  and  to  see  all  the  soldiers  rush  out  in 
terror  !  I  interrogated  them  as  to  the  cause  of  their  fear,  and 
they  replied  that  the  devil  inhabited  the  abbey  ;  that  he  had 
entered  through  a  hole  in  the  door,  under  the  form  of  a  huge 
dog  with  long  black  hair,  who  rushed  upon  them,  flew  over  their 
breasts  with  the  rapidity  of  lightning,  and  disappeared  by  the 
door  opposite  to  that  at  which  he  had  entered. 

"  We  laughed  at  their  fears,  and  endeavored  to  prove  that 
this  phenomenon  arose  from  causes  quite  simple  and  natural, 
and  was  only  the  eff'ect  of  imagination.  Neither  by  persuasion 
nor  threats  could  we  prevail  on  them  to  return  to  the  barrack  ; 
they  passed  the  remainder  of  the  night  dispersed  on  the  sea- 
shore, and  in  various  parts  of  the  town.  The  next  day,  I  again 
interrogated  the  sub-ofiicers  and  the  oldest  soldiers.  They 
assured  me  that  they  were  above  all  kinds  of  fear,  that  they 
believed  neither  in  spirits  nor  ghosts,  yet  they  appeared  quite 
persuaded  that  the  scene  of  the  barrack  was  not  an  eff'ect  of 
imagination,  but  a  reality.  They  insisted  that  they  Avere  not 
asleep  when  the  dog  came  in,  but  that  they  had  seen  him,  and 
were  wellnigh  smothered  when  he  jumped  on  their  breasts. 

"We  remained  all  day  at  Tropea,  and  as  the  town  was  filled 
with  troops,  were  obliged  to  return  to  the  same  lodging,  but  we 
could  persuade  the  soldiers  to  lie  down  only  by  promising  to 
pass  the  night  with  them.  Accordingly,  at  half-past  eleven,  the 
commander  of  the  battalion  and  myself  entered;  the  other 
oflicers  had,  out  of  curiosity,  dispersed  themselves  about  the 
diff'erent  rooms.  We  did  not  expect  that  the  scene  of  the  pre- 
ceding evening  would  be  renewed  ;  the  soldiers,  encouraged  by 
the  presence  of  their  officers,  who  watched,  had  gone  to  sleep, 
when,  towards  one  in  the  morning,  and  in  every  room  at  the 
same  instant,  the  cries  were  renewed,  and  the  men  who  had  seen 


188  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

the  dog  leap  on  their  breasts,  fearful  of  being  smothered,  rushed 
from  the  barrack,  never  to  re-enter  it.  We  were  up,  quite 
awake,  and  on  the  watch  to  see  what  would  happen,  and,  as  may 
be  supposed,  we  saw  nothing. 

"  The  enemy's  fleet  having  dispersed,  we  returned  the  next 
day  to  Palmi.  Since  this  event,  we  have  traversed  the  kingdom 
of  Naples  in  every  way  and  at  all  seasons  ;  our  soldiers  have  fre- 
quently been  packed  in  a  similar  manner,  but  we  have  never  had 
a  recurrence  of  this  phenomenon."* 

The  forced  march  which  these  soldiers  had  been  obliged  to 
make  during  a  very  warm  day,  had,  probably,  by  fatiguing  the 
organs  of  respiration,  weakened  them,  and  predisposed  them  to 
the  nightmare  (incubus,  ephialtes).  Doubtless,  also,  the  exciting 
cause  was  the  constrained  position  in  which  they  Avere  obliged 
to  remain  with  their  clothes  on,  as  well  as  the  rarefaction  of  the 
air  ;  and,  perhaps,  the  result  was  partially  due  to  the  influence 
of  some  noxious  gas. 

SECT.  IL— HALLUCINATIONS  IN  DREAMS. 

The  analogies  which  exist  between  hallucinations  in  dreams 
and  in  a  waking  condition,  have  induced  writers  who  look  on 
hallucination  as  a  pathological  phenomenon,  to  place  the  two  in 
the  same  category.  An  English  writer  who  maintains  this  doc- 
trine, says  that,  in  both  cases,  the  horses  draw  the  chariot  with- 
out a  guide,  with  this  diff'erence,  that  the  coachman  is  drunk  in 
insanity,  and  asleep  in  dreams. f  Here,  in  fact,  lies  the  difl"erence. 

More  recently,  MM.  Moreau  and  Al.  Maury,  have  main- 
tained a  similar  opinion.  If  this  be  admitted,  the  result  would 
be  that  none  would  escape  insanity,  since  those  whom  it  would 
spare  during  the  day  would  be  attacked  in  the  night.  The 
absolutism  of  this  proposition  is  its  best  refutation.  The  dream- 
ing state,  in  an  immense  majority  of  cases,  is  a  purely  physio- 
logical condition  ;  it  is  merely  a  continuation  of  the  action  of 
the  intelligent  principle  ;  and  to  establish  the  truth  of  this  pro- 
position, it  would  be  only  necessary  to.  bring  forward  any  of  the 
plans    and    actions  which  are   conceived   and   executed  during 

*  Grand    Dictionnaire  des   Sciences  Médicales,  t.  xxxiv.    art.   Incube; 
case  communicated  by  Dr.  Parent. 
f  The  Antiquary,  voL  i.  p.  189. 


HALLUCINATIONS  IN  NIGHTMARE  AND  DREAMS.  189 

sleep.     We  may,  therefore,  conveniently  classify  dreams  into 
two  divisions,  according  as  they  are  physiological  or  pathological. 

The  conditions  of  sleep  necessarily  modify  nocturnal  halluci- 
nations. In  fact,  in  dreams,  man  is  no  longer  a  volitional  being  ; 
his  senses  cease  to  perform  their  functions  ;  identity  is  lost;  he 
confounds  time  and  space;  the  strangest  persons  and  events 
cause  no  astonishment;  his  attention  is  almost  suspended;  his 
imagination  is  unbounded,  his  memory  surprising.  All  these 
psychological  states  are  found  in  the  hallucinations  of  dreams, 
and  establish  their  difference  from  waking  hallucinations. 

Voltaire  dreamt  the  first  canto  of  his  Henriade  differently  from 
the  plan  which  he  had  adopted  in  writing  it.  He  was  struck 
with  the  singularity;  "In  my  dream,"  says  he,  "I  said  what  I 
should  hardly  have  said  awake;  I  therefore  thought  and  re- 
flected involuntarily.  I  possessed  no  freedom  of  will,  and  yet  I 
combined  ideas  with  shrewdness,  and  even  with  genius." 

The  hallucinations  of  dreams  are  frequently  exhibited  in  the 
intermediate  state  between  sleeping  and  waking.  M.  Al. 
Maury  gives  them  the  name  of  hypnagogique  (aywyojj  that 
which  brings  on,  and  crtvoj,  sleep).*  It  is  with  some  reason  that 
Purkinge  aiid  Grutheisen  called  them  the  elements  of  dreams. 
Cerebral  congestion  appears  favorable  to  their  production;  but 
the  generalization  of  this  fact  would  be  contrary  to  experience, 
for  thousands  of  persons  dream  without  having  hypnagogical 
hallucinations,  headaches,  or  congestive  symptoms. 

The  object  which  is  perceived  in  a  dream  may  be  the  faithful 
representation,  or  almost  the  identical  object  itself  which  is  per- 
ceived in  an  hallucination,  as  the  object  of  an  hallucination  may 
be  the  exact  reproduction  of  the  object  of  a  dream. 

Abercrombie,  whose  work  on  the  Intellectual  Faculties  has 
acquired  an  extraordinary  reputation  in  England,  and  justly 
merits  a  translation  into  our  language,  is  of  opinion  that  dreams 
and  hallucinations  are  closely  related  to  each  other.  In  support 
of  this  doctrine,  he  quotes  the  following  fact  :  "A  distinguished 
physician,  harassed  with  fatigue,  and  worn  out  with  anxiety  in 
consequence  of  the  illness  of  one  of  his  children,  slept  in  his 
chair,  where  he  dreamed  that  he  saw  a  gigantic  baboon.  He 
awoke  much  agitated,  arose  and  went  towards  a  table  that  was 
in  the  middle  of  the  room.     He  was  perfectly  awake,  and  re- 

*  Ann.  Méd.  Psych,;  t.  ii.  p,  26. 


190  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

cognized  the  objects  around  him.  At  the  end  of  the  room, 
against  the  wall,  he  distinctly  saw  the  baboon  making  the  same 
grimaces  as  in  his  dream.  This  apparition  lasted  for  half  a 
minute."* 

Sir  Walter  Scott  says  that  the  analogy  between  dreams  and 
illusions  is  striking,  as  is  shown  in  the  following  facts  :  "Thus, 
a  dreamer  hears  a  noise  not  sufficiently  loud  to  awaken  him  en- 
tirely; at  the  same  time  something  accidentally  touches  him. 
These  impressions  instantly  form  a  part  of  his  dreams,  and  adapt 
themselves  to  the  tenor  of  the  ideas  that  occupy  his  mind,  what- 
ever they  may  be.  Nothing  is  more  remarkable  than  the  rapidity 
with  which  the  imagination  furnishes  a  complete  explanation  of 
this  interruption  to  sleep,  according  to  the  manner  in  wKich  ideas 
are  presented  by  the  dream,  even  without  requiring  a  moment's 
respite  for  this  operation.  For  example,  if  a  duel  is  the  subject 
of  the  dream,  the  noise  that  is  really  heard  becomes  the  dis- 
charge of  the  pistols  of  the  combatants.  If  an  orator,  in  his 
dream,  is  making  a  speech,  the  noise  becomes  the  plaudits  of 
his  supposed  auditory.  If  the  dreamer  is  transported  in  his 
dreams  to  the  midst  of  ruins,  the  noise  appears  that  of  the  fall 
of  some  portion  of  the  walls. 

"In  a  word,  an  explanatory  system  is  adopted,  in  which  the 
rapidity  of  thought  is  so  great  that,  if  we  suppose  the  noise 
heard  to  be  the  first  efforts  of  some  one  to  awaken  the  sleeper, 
the  explanation,  although  requiring  a  certain  train  of  deductions, 
is  usually  finished  and  conrplete  before  a  second  effort  has  per- 
fectly awakened  the  sleeper.  There  exists  in  the  succession  of 
ideas  during  sleep,  an  intuition  so  rapid  that  it  recalls  the  vision 
in  which  the  prophet  Mohammed  saw  all  the  wonders  of  heaven 
and  hell,  although  the  water  contained  in  the  jar,  which  was  up- 
set when  his  ecstasy  commenced,  was  not  completely  emptied 
when  he  recovered  the  use  of  his  ordinary  faculties." 

Hallucinations  in  dreams  are  sometimes  the  result  of  associa- 
tion of  ideas,  or  reminiscences.  Amongst  the  curious  cases  of 
this  nature,  those  that  we  are  about  to  relate  have  great  inte- 
rest, and  prove  that  dreams  give  rise  to  the  most  singular  com- 
binations, and  the  strangest  facts. 

*  Abercrombie,  Inquiries  concerning  the  Intellectual  Powers  and  the 
Investigation  of  Truth.     London,  1841. 


HALLUCINATIONS  IN  NIGHTMARE  AND  DREAMS.  191 

Case  LXXXII.  "A  friend  of  mine,"  says  Abercrombie, 
"employed  as  cashier  in  one  of  the  principal  banking-houses  in 
Glasgow,  was  at  his  desk,  when  an  individual  entered,  requiring 
the  payment  of  six  pounds  sterling.  Several  persons  were  there 
awaiting  their  turn;  but  he  was  so  impatient,  so  noisy,  and,  above 
all,  stuttered  so  insupportably,  that  one  of  the  clerks  begged  the 
cashier  to  pay  him,  in  order  to  be  rid  of  him.  The  cashier 
assented  with  an  impatient  gesture,  and  without  entering  the 
sum  on  the  books.  At  the  close  of  the  year,  in  eight  or  nine 
months  afterwards,  the  books  would  not  balance;  there  was  an 
error  of  six  pounds.  My  friend  passed  several  days  and  nights 
vainly  endeavoring  to  find  the  deficit  ;  overcome  with  fatigue,  he 
returned  home  and  went  to  bed,  where  he  dreamed  he  was  at  his 
desk,  that  the  stutterer  came  in,  and  presently  all  the  details  of 
the  afi"air  were  correctly  re-enacted.  He  awoke,  his  mind  fully 
occupied  by  his  dream,  and  with  the  hope  that  he  was  about  to 
discover  what  he  had  vainly  sought.  On  examining  the  books,  he 
found  that  the  sum  had  not  been  entered  in  the  day-book,  and 
that  it  corresponded  exactly  with  the  error."* 

Case  LXXXIII.  M.  R.  de  Bowland,  land- owner  in  the  Val- 
ley of  Gala,  was  prosecuted  for  a  considerable  sum  of  money, 
being  the  accumulated  arrears  of  a  tithe,  due,  it  was  said,  to  a 
noble  family.  M.  R.  was  entirely  convinced  that  his  father, 
according  to  a  peculiar  custom  in  Scottish  law,  had  purchased 
the  tithes  of  the  incumbent,  and  that  consequently  the  demand 
was  unjust.  But  after  minute  researches  in  the  title-deeds  in 
the  public  acts,  and  very  long  inquiry  of  those  who  had  had 
business  transactions  with  his  father,  he  failed  in  finding  any 
proof  in  his  favor.  The  fatal  term  was  on  the  point  of  ex- 
piring, and  he  was  preparing  his  departure  for  Edinburgh,  in 
order  to  arrange  the  matter  in  the  most  advantageous  manner 
possible.  He  went  to  bed  in  this  state  of  mind  ;  scarcely  was 
he  asleep  when  he  had  the  following  dream  :  His  father,  who 
had  been  dead  for  many  years,  appeared,  and  inquired  what  it 
was  that  so  troubled  his  mind.  In  dreams,  apparitions  do  not 
excite  any  surprise.  M.  R.  told  him  the  cause,  adding  that  the 
payment  of  so  considerable  a  sum  of  money  was  the  more  dis- 
agreeable to  him,  inasmuch  as  he  knew  it  was  not  due,  although 

*  Abercrombie,  op.  cit.,  p.  280. 


192  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

he  could  not  bring  anything  to  prove  his  assertion.  "You  are 
right,  my  son,"  replied  the  shadow;  "I  have  paid  these  tithes 
for  which  you  are  prosecuted.  The  papers  relating  to  these 
transactions  are  in  the  hands  of  M.,  attorney,  who  has  retired 
from  business  and  lives  at  Inveresk,  near  Edinburgh  ;  I  applied 
to  him  in  this  case,  although  he  never  before  transacted  my 
business.  It  is  possible  that  M.  has  forgotten  this  circumstance, 
which  occurred  so  long  ago  ;  but  you  can  recall  it  to  him  by 
saying  that,  when  I  went  to  settle  his  account,  a  difficulty  arose 
about  the  value  of  a  Portugal  gold-piece,  and  that  we  agreed  to 
drink  out  the  difference  at  a  tavern." 

M.  E,.  awoke  in  the  morning,  his  mind  dwelling  upon  his 
dream.  He  thought  it  advisable  to  turn  out  of  his  road  and  go 
to  Inveresk  instead  of  direct  on  to  Edinburgh.  Having  reached 
the  place,  he  found  the  person  of  whom  his  father  had  spoken  ; 
he  was  a  very  aged  man.  Without  saying  a  word  of  his  dream, 
M.  R.  inquired  whether  he  recollected  transacting  any  business 
for  his  late  father.  The  old  gentleman  had  no  recollection  of 
it,  but  the  circumstance  of  the  gold-piece  brought  it  to  his 
memory  ;  he  sought  for,  and  found  the  papers  ;  so  that  M.  R. 
returned  to  Edinburgh  with  the  necessary  documents  to  defend 
his  suit,  which  he  was  on  the  point  of  losing.* 

Undoubtedly,  M.  R.  had  formerly  heard  the  circumstance 
mentioned  by  his  father,  but  it  had  long  been  effaced  from  his 
memory.  It  is  remarkable  that  the  fact  should  have  recurred 
to  his  mind  after  so  fatiguing  a  research.  There  are  authentic 
dreams  which  communicate  events  passing  at  the  moment,  or 
shortly  after.  A  Protestant  mipister  having  gone  to  Edinburgh 
from  a  neighboring  village,  stopped  at  an  inn.  He  was  scarcely 
asleep,  when  he  dreamt  that  his  house  was  on  jBre,  and  one  of 
his  children  in  the  midst  of  the  flames.  Awaking  up  instantly, 
he  hastily  quitted  the  inn  to  return  home.  Arriving  in  sight  of 
his  house,  he  found  it  in  flames.  He  rushed  in  in  time  to  save 
one  of  his  children,  who  had  been  abandoned  in  the  midst  of 
the  alarm  and  confusion  consequent  on  such  an  event. f 

This  fact  may  be  explained  naturally,  without  having  recourse 
to  the  marvellous.  It  is  possible  that  the  minister  had  a  servant 
who  was  careless  of  fire  ;  this  was  sufficient  to  inspire  him  with 

*  Abercrombie,  op,  cit.,  p.  288,  t  Ibid.,  p.  291. 


HALLUCINATIONS  IN  NIGHTMARE  AND  DREAMS.  193 

a  fear  of  having  his  house  burned.  To  this  may  be  added  the 
fact  that  his  absence  would' increase  the  neglect  of  his  servant, 
that  there  was  to  be  a  fête  in  the  neighborhood,  and  that  his 
servant  would  probably  be  intoxicated.  These  circumstances, 
strongly  acting  upon  an  excited  imagination,  would  of  them- 
selves be  sufficient  to  impress  him  with  the  idea  that  he  beheld 
his  house  in  flames,  which  a  simple  coincidence  converted  into 
a  sad  reality. 

Case  LXXXIV.  We  read,  in  a  work  by  Ferriar,  an  anecdote 
borrowed  from  Ben  Jonson,  who  had  extracted  it  from  a  work 
by  Drummond.*  This  author  relates  that  when  King  James 
came  to  England,  at  the  time  of  the  plague,  he  went,  accom- 
panied by  Old  Cambden,  into  the  country,  to  visit  Sir  Robert 
Colton.  There  he  dreamed  that  his  eldest  son,  yet  a  child,  who 
was  in  London,  had  a  bloody  cross  on  his  forehead,  as  though 
he  had  been  wounded  by  a  sword.  Alarmed  at  this  apparition, 
he  sought  to  allay  his  fears  by  prayer,  and  in  the  morning  re- 
lated the  occurrence  of  the  night  to  Sir  Cambden,  who  assured 
the  monarch  that  it  was  only  a  dream,  and  begged  him  not 
to  be  disturbed.  The  same  day  the  king  received  a  letter, 
announcing  the  death  of  his  son  by  the  plague.  When  the 
child  appeared  to  his  father,  he  had  the  shape  and  proportions 
of  a  grown  man.f 

Case  LXXXV.  Antiquity  has  bequeathed  to  us  a  famous 
dream,  which  has  since  found  place  in  many  works.  Two  friends 
arrived  at  Megara,  and  lodged  in  different  places.  One  of  the 
two  was  scarcely  asleep,  when  he  dreamed  that  his  companion 
announced  to  him,  with  a  melancholy  air,  that  his  host  had 
formed  a  project  to  assassinate  him,  and  entreated  him  to  come 
as  quickly  as  possible  to  his  succor.  Upon  this  he  awoke,  but, 
convinced  that  it  was  only  a  dream,  he  went  to  sleep  again.  A 
second  time  his  friend  appeared,  and  conjured  him  to  hurry,  as 
the  murderers  were  about  to  enter. 

Much  disturbed,  he  was  amazed  at  the  recurrence  of  his  dream, 
and  prepared  to  go  to  his  friend  ;  but  reason  and  fatigue  gained 
the  mastery,  and  he  returned  to  bed.  His  friend  then  appeared 
for  the  third  time,  pale,  bleeding,  disfigured.    "Wretch,"  said  he, 

*  Drummond's  Works,  p.  224. 

t  Ferriar,  An  Essay  on  Apparitions,  p.  58. 

13 


194  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

"  you  did  not  come  at  m j  entreaty  !  It  is  now  over  ;  nevertheless, 
revenge  me.  At  daybreak,  you  will  meet  at  the  city  gate  a  cart- 
load of  dung;  stop  it,  and  have  it  unloaded;  you  will  find  my 
body  concealed  in  the  centre  ;  inter  me  honorably,  and  pursue 
my  murderers." 

Such  tenacity,  such  consistent  details,  allowed  of  no  hesita- 
tion; the  friend  arose  and  repaired  to  the  gate  indicated,  found 
the  cart,  stopped  the  driver,  who  was  disconcerted,  and,  on 
searching,  discovered  the  body  of  his  friend.* 

Admitting  the  truth  of  the  account,  and  presuming  that  time 
has  not  amplified  or  embellished  it,  it  is  easily  explained  by  na- 
tural causes.  Was  not  the  separation  of  the  two  friends,  in  a 
strange  city,  after  the  fatigues  of  travelling,  sufficient  to  awaken 
mournful  presentiments  in  the  mind  of  one  of  them,  who,  in  the 
silence  of  the  night,  was  touched  with  the  fear  of  assassination  ? 
This  idea  once  indulged,  imagination  would  do  the  rest.  As  to 
the  episode  of  the  cart,  which  seems  difficult  of  interpretation, 
it  is  probable  that  he  had  seen  it  in  the  courtyard.  The  prin- 
ciple of  association  of  ideas  was  an  element  of  the  dream. 

Cicero,  Plutarch,  and  other  ancient  authors  have  preserved 
the  following  anecdote  :  "  Simonides,  having  met  with  the  dead 
body,  on  the  highway,  of  a  man  who  was  a  stranger  to  him,  had 
it  interred.  As  he  was  about  to  embark,  he  dreamed  that  the 
man  whom  he  had  buried,  appeared  to  him,  and  informed  him 
that,  if  he  persisted  in  embarking  on  his  voyage,  he  would  perish. 
This  warning  induced  him  to  alter  his  mind,  and  it  appeared 
subsequently  that  the  vessel  was  wrecked."* 

"The  opinion,"  says  an  illustrious  writer,  "that  truth  is  some- 
times presented  to  us  during  sleep,  prevails  among  all  nations. 
The  greatest  men  of  antiquity  had  faith  in  it,  among  others 
Alexander,  Cesar,  the  Scipios,  the  two  Catos,  and  Brutus,  none 
of  whom  were  weak-minded  men.  The  Old  and  New  Testaments 
furnish  us  with  numerous  examples  of  dreams  that  have  been 
realized.  For  myself  I  need  nothing  beyond  my  own  experi- 
ence, and  I  have  more  than  once  found  that  dreams  may  be 
warnings,  giving  us  some  information  interesting  to  ourselves 

*  Cicero,  De  Divin,  lib.  i.  |  xxvii.  p.  77. 

t  Cicero,  see  Valerius  Maximus,  liv.  i.  ch.  i.;  Plutarch,  The  Oracles  of 
Pythius,  p.  154;  Philostratus,  Life  of  Apollonius,  liv.  viii.  ch,  x.  p.  562; 
and  Gauthier,  Histoire  de  Somnambulism,  2  vols,  in  8vo.  1842. 


HALLUCINATIONS  IN  NIGHTMARE  AND  DREAMS.  195 

alone,  and  that  it  is  not  possible  to  pombat  or  defend  with  rea- 
sonings things  that  surpass  human  reason."* 

The  famous  Bossuet,  in  his  funeral  oration  on  Anne  of  Gon- 
zages,  Princess  Palatine,  deduces  his  whole  plan  of  conversion 
from  a  mysterious  dream  which  she  had. 

"It  was,"  said  he,  "an  admirable  dream,  such  as  God  sends 
by  his  ministering  angels,  in  which  the  images  are  so  distinct 
and  clear  that  they  appear  quite  celestial.  She  thought  that, 
"walking  alone  in  a  forest,  she  met  with  a  blind  man  in  a  little 
hut.  She  approached,  and  inquired  whether  he  was  born  blind, 
or  had  become  so  by  accident.  He  replied  that  he  was  born 
blind.  'You  do  not  then  know,'  said  she,  'what  is  light,  which 
is  so  beautiful  and  agreeable;  nor  the  sun,  which  has  so  much 
brilliancy  and  beauty?'  'I  have  never,'  replied  he,  'enjoyed 
the  sight  of  that  beautiful  object,  nor  can  I  form  any  idea  of  it; 
but  I  do  not  the  less  believe  it  to  be  of  marvellous  splendor.' 
The  blind  man  then  seemed  to  change  both  his  voice  and  counte- 
nance, and,  assuming  an  air  of  authority,  said:  'My  example 
should  teach  you  that  wonderful  things,  which  escape  our  sight, 
are  no  less  true  nor  desirable  because  we  are  unable  to  compre- 
hend them.'  "t 

The  following  are  the  reflections  of  Le  Maistre  de  Sacy  on 
dreams;  "The  pagans,  and  men  in  general,"  said  he,  "have 
often  made  chimerical  observations  on  dreams,  full  of  supersti- 
tion and  vanity.  It  has,  nevertheless,  pleased  God,  as  it  ap- 
pears in  Holy  Writ,  to  give  very  important  counsel  at  times  to 
saints,  during  sleep.  Saint  Augustine  reports  that  Saint  Monica, 
his  mother,  comprehended,  by  certain  pleasing  sensations,  the 
revelations  which  it  pleased  God  to  make  to  her  during  sleep, 
and  which  her  imagination  represented  to  her  during  her  dreams 
of  the  night."J 

Presentiments. — The  study  of  dreams  leads  us  to  speak  of  pre- 
sentiments. The  farther  we  advance  in  the  consideration  of  the 
nervous  system,  the  more  we  are  compelled  to  admit,  as  M.  Max 
(Simon)  has  well  said,  "  that  if  statistics  are  true  when  applied 
to  size  and  quantity,  they  are  no  longer  so  when  relating  to  life 

*  Bernardin  St.  Pierre.   Paul  et  Virginie. 

t  Chefs-d'œuvre  de  Bossuet,  Lefebvre's  edition,  Paris,  1829,  p.  449. 

X  Le  Maistre  de  Sacy,  Obs.  on  the  24th  verse  of  Leviticus,  t.  iii.  p.  738. 


196  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

and  strength.  Can  truth,  virtue,  justice,  health,  sensibility,  etc., 
he  computed  ?  No — a  thousand  times  no  ;  at  least,  not  in  such 
a  manner  as  to  identify  them  with  matter.''* 

Sensibility  is,  in  fact,  a  key-board,  of  which  it  is  impossible 
to  seize  and  express  all  the  tones,  producing,  as  it  does,  the  most 
astonishing  and  unexpected  effects.  I  read  lately  of  a  young 
girl  brought  up  in  the  country,  at  the  foot  of  the  mountains,  who 
had  the  faculty  of  distinguishing,  amidst  the  confusion  of  noises 
all  around  her,  other  sounds  inaudible  to  all  besides.  It  was  now 
a  hollow  rumbling  that  she  heard  echoing  between  the  summits 
of  the  Pyrenees,  and  the  acuteness  of  her  hearing  was  verified 
by  a  storm  which  broke  with  fury  during  the  night  on  the  val- 
ley. Then  she  would  suddenly  hear  the  measured  tread  of  a 
horse  afar  off;  and  the  people  were  surprised  to  see,  some  hours 
afterwards,  a  traveller  arrive  seeking  hospitality,  thus  bearing 
witness  that  she  had  not  been  deceived  by  the  illusion  of  a  sense 
excited  to  so  astonishing  a  degree,  f 

The  same  phenomenon  may  be  noticed  with  respect  to  the 
other  senses  ;  thus,  the  delicacy  of  the  sense  of  smell  is  some- 
times so  great,  that  persons  can  detect  substances  placed  at  a 
distance  at  which  others  are  unable  to  discern  them. 

Some  have  denied  atmospheric  influence  on  certain  organiza- 
tions. Facts,  however,  demonstrate  that  there  are  natures  so 
impressible  that  they  discern,  long  before  others,  the  changes 
about  to  take  place  in  the  air. 

In  the  moral  world,  the  field  of  observation  is  no  less  curious. 
All  who  have  powerfully  loved,  know  that  there  is  a  supernatu- 
ral vision  in  passion,  which  causes  the  woman  loved  or  hated 
to  be  recognized  by  signs  imperceptible  to  ordinary  faculties  ; 
she  is  not  seen,  but  we  say,  "that  is  she." 

With  presentiments  are  associated  antipathies  and  sympathies. 
That  individuals  have  experienced  shuddering  sensations  at  the 
approach  of  an  enemy,  or  of  an  unknown  danger,  is  established 
by  incontrovertible  evidence.  Some  years  since  we  had  the 
opportunity  of  seeing  a  lady  who  had  this  instinctive  feeling 
the  instant  she  came  into  close  contact  with  a  stranger.     The 

*  L'opinion  Reine  du  Monde.  Union  Médicale,  2  Août,  1851. 
t  Souvenirs  d'une  Aveugle  née,  recueilles  et  écrits  par  elle-même;  pub- 
liés par  M.  Dufau,  Directeur  des  Aveugles,  p.  45,  Paris,  1851. 


HALLUCINATIONS  IN  NIGHTMARE  AND  DREAMS.  197 

impression  she  received  was  always  justified  by  the  result.  We 
wished  to  magnetize  this  lady,  in  order  to  study  so  singular  a 
power,  but  she  evinced  so  much  uneasiness  at  the  operation,  that 
it  was  impossible  to  test  it. 

Much  more  might  be  said  on  presentiments,  but  we  will  not 
enter  into  any  ample  details  on  the  subject.  Cold  and  calm 
minds  reject,  but  sensitive  natures  accept  them.  In  the  greater 
number  of  cases,  they  are  not  realized  ;  in  such  presentiments 
as  are  justified  by  the  events  which  follow,  they  are  but  a  remi- 
niscence, or  a  simple  coincidence;  all  this  we  readily  admit.  It 
is  no  less  true,  however,  that  an  unexpected  occui-rence,  a  strong 
preoccupation,  a  lively  uneasiness,  a  sudden  change  of  habit,  or 
any  kind  of  fear,  arouse  instantly  in  the  mind  presentiments 
which  it  would  often  be  wrong  to  reject  with  systematic  incre- 
dulity. 

This  explanation  does  not  seem  to  us  inconsistent  with  sound 
sense,  and  in  order  to  give  to  skepticism  the  largest  possible 
range,  we  will  quote  a  letter,  inserted  in  the  31ercu7'ê  G-alant, 
of  January,  1690: — 

Case  LXXXVI.  "  The  best  proof,  my  friend,  that  I  can  give 
you  of  the  vanity  of  dreams,  is  that  I  live  after  the  apparition 
which  I  had  on  the  22d  of  September,  1679. — On  that  morning 
I  awoke  at  five  o'clock,  but  slept  again  directly.  I  soon  dreamed 
that  I  was  in  my  bed,  and  that  the  covering  was  withdrawn  (an 
accidental  circumstance,  but  true).  I  saw  one  of  my  relations, 
who  had  been  dead  some  years,  enter  my  room;  she  who  was 
formerly  so  lively,  now  looked  very  sad.  She  sat  down  on  the 
foot  of  my  bed,  and  looked  compassionately  on  me.  As  in  my 
dream  I  knew  she  was  dead,  I  judged  by  her  distressed  look 
that  she  was  about  to  announce  to  me  some  bad  news,  perhaps 
death.  Indifferent  to  that  event,  I  said:  'Well,  I  must  then 
die!' — 'It  is  true.' — 'When?' — 'To-day.' — I  own  that  the  time 
seemed  short,  but  without  any  fear,  I  questioned  her  anew  : 
'  How  ?' — She  murmured  some  words  that  I  could  not  catch,  and 
I  awoke. 

"The  importance  of  so  peculiar  a  dream  caused  me  to  ex- 
amine attentively  my  situation.  I  remarked  that  I  was  lying 
on  the  right  side,  my  body  straight  out  and  my  hands  on  my 
stomach. — I  arose  to  write  down  my  dream,  lest  I  should  forget 
it,  and  finding  that  it  contained  all  the  circumstances  peculiar 


198  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

to  divine  and  mysterious  visions,  I  was  no  sooner  dressed  than 
I  went  to  tell  my  mother-in-law,  that  if  serious  dreams  were  in- 
fallible warnings,  in  twenty-four  hours  she  would  cease  to  have 
a  son-in-law.  I  then  related  to  her  what  had  happened  ;  I  also 
repeated  it  to  some  of  my  friends,  but  without  feeling  the  least 
alarm  or  changing  my  habits,  yielding  myself  to  the  will  of 
Providence. 

"Perhaps,  had  I  been  weak  enough  to  believe  in  this  vision, 
I  should  really  have  died,  and  my  fate  would  have  resembled 
that  of  the  men  spoken  of  by  the  Greek  historian  Procopius  ; 
I  should  have  lost  my  life  as  a  punishment  for  my  belief  in 
dreams,  a  superstition  forbidden  by  God." 

Presentiments,  then,  may  be  explained  in  a  number  of  cases 
by  natural  causes;  but  may  we  not,  without  being  taxed  with  a 
leaning  towards  the  marvellous,  affirm  that  there  are  events  that 
seem  to  depart  from  common  laws,  or  that  at  least  depend  on 
connections,  hardly  understood,  between  moral  and  physical 
laws,  on  over-excitability  of  the  nervous  system,  or  which  are  con- 
nected with  the  phenomena  of  magnetism  and  somnambulism  ? 

Case  LXXXVII.  Mademoiselle  R.  was  endowed  with  excel- 
lent judgment  and  was  religious  without  bigotry.  She  lived, 
before  her  marriage,  in  the  house  of  her  uncle,  a  noted  phy- 
sician, and  member  of  the  Institute.  She  was  thus  separated 
from  her  mother,  who  was  seized,  in  the  country,  with  a  severe 
illness.  One  night,  this  young  person  dreamed  that  she  saw  her 
mother,  pale,  altered,  and  about  to  breathe  her  last.  She  was 
bitterly  expressing  her  grief  that  she  was  not  surrounded  by  her 
children,  one  of  whom,  a  curate  from  one  of  the  parishes  in 
Paris,  had  emigrated  to  Spain,  whilst  the  other  was  in  Paris. 
She  soon  heard  herself  called  by  her  baptismal  name;  in  her 
dream  she  saw  the  persons  who  surrounded  her  mother,  imagin- 
ing that  she  called  her  granddaughter,  who  bore  the  same 
name,  seek  for  this  girl  in  the  neighbouring  square;  a  sign  from 
the  sick  woman  gave  them  to  understand  that  it  was  not  her 
granddaughter,  but  her  daughter,  who  was  in  Paris,  that  she  de- 
sired to  see.  Her  mother's  countenance  expressed  all  the  grief 
that  she  felt  in  her  absence  ;  suddenly  her  features  fell,  and  were 
covered  with  the  paleness  of  death;  she  fell  lifeless  on  her  bed. 

The  next  day.  Mademoiselle  R.  appeared  very  sad.  To  D., 
who  inquired  the  cause  of  her  grief,  she  gave  the  details  of  the 
trouble  that  oppressed  her.    D.,  finding  her  so  disturbed,  pressed 


HALLUCINATIONS  IN  NIGHTMARE  AND  DREAMS.  199 

her  to  his  heart,  and  confessed  that  ij;  was  but  too  true,  that  her 
mother  had  just  died  ;  but  entered  into  no  further  explanations. 

Some  months  afterwards.  Mademoiselle  R.,  profiting  by  her 
uncle's  absence  to  arrange  his  papers,  found  a  letter,  which  he 
had  thrust  into  a  corner.  What  was  her  surprise  on  reading  all 
the  particulars  of  her  dream,  which  D.  had  passed  over  in  silence, 
being  unwilling  to  excite  too  strong  an  emotion  in  a  mind  already 
so  vividly  impressed  ! 

This  account  was  given  to  us  by  the  person  herself,  in  whose 
veracity  we  place  the  utmost  confidence.  We  must,  doubtless,, 
here  exercise  a  prudent  reserve,  and  the  explanation  of  the 
dream  given  by  Abercrombie  (p.  230)  may  strictly  be  used 
here;  but  we  frankly  acknowledge  that  such  explanations  are 
far  from  satisfying  us,  and  that  this  subject,  to  which  we  have 
given  deep  attention,  afi'ects  some  of  the  profoundest  mysteries 
of  our  being.  Were  we  to  give  the  names  of  all  the  known 
characters  holding  a  high  position  in  science,  with  correct  judg- 
ment and  extensive  knowledge,  who  have  had  these  warnings 
and  presentiments,  we  should  find  ample  matter  for  reflection. 

In  support  of  these  remarks,  we  will  give  the  following  anec- 
dote, recorded  by  Dr.  Sigmond,  who  had  it  from  the  widow  of 
M.  Colmache,  private  secretary  of  M.  de  Talleyrand: — 

Case  LXXXVIII.  One  day,  in  presence  of  the  old  minister, 
the  conversation  was  directed  to  those  instantaneous  warnings 
which  might  be  considered  as  communications  from  the  invisible 
world  with  man;  some  one  observed  that  it  would  be  difficult  to  find 
any  celebrated  man,  who,  either  in  his  own  person  or  that  of  an 
intimate  friend,  could  not  attest  some  supernatural  event  of  his 
life.     The  prince  remarked:   "I  can  never  forget  that  I  was 
once  gifted,  for  a  moment,  with  an  extraordinary  and  inexplicable 
prescience,  v/hich  was  the  means  of  saving  my  life.     Without 
that  sudden  and  mysterious  inspiration,  I  should  not  be  here  to 
recount  these  curious  details.     I  was  intimately  connected  with 
one  of  my  countrymen,  M.  B.    We  had  always  lived  on  the  best 
terms,  and  in  those  stormy  times,  something  more  than  friend- 
ship was  needed  to  unite  persons,  when  the  expression  of  friend- 
ship required  almost  a  divine  courage.    I  had  no  cause  to  doubt 
his  affection.     On  the  contrary,  he  had,  on  several  occasions, 
given  me  the  most  devoted  proofs  of  his  attachment  to  my  per- 
son and  interests.     We  had  together  quitted  France  to  take 


200  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

refuge  in  New  York,  and  had  hitherto  lived  in  perfect  harmony. 
Wishing  to  increase  our  little  capital,  I  had  freighted  a  ship, 
half  shares  with  him,  to  try  our  fortune  in  the  Indies.    We  were 
ready  for  our  departure,  but  waited  for  a  favorable  wind  with  the 
greatest  impatience.     This  state  of  uncertainty  appeared  to  sour 
poor  B.  to  a  most  extraordinary  degree.    Incapable  of  remaining 
quiet,  he  roamed  the  city  with  a  feverish  activity,  which,  for  the 
moment,  excited  my  surprise,  for  he  was   always  remarkable 
for  his  calmness  and  placidity.     One  day  he  entered  the  room, 
.evidently  under  great  excitement,  although  he  used  great  efforts 
to  restrain  himself.     I  was  writing  letters  to  Europe.     Leaning 
over  my  shoulder,  he  said,  with  a  forced  gayety,  'Why  do  you 
lose  time  in  writing  these  letters  ?     They  will  never  reach  their 
destination.     Come  with  me,  and  let  us  make  the  round  of  the 
b-attery.     The  wind  may  become  favorable;    perhaps   Ave  are 
nearer  to  our  departure  than  we  think  !'     The  day  was  magni- 
ficent, although  the  wind  was  high;  I  allowed  myself  to  be  per- 
suaded.    B.,  as  I  afterwards  recollected,  showed  extraordinary 
alacrity  in  closing  my  desk,  arranging  my  papers,  and  offering 
my  hat  and  cane,  which  I  attributed  to  the  need  of  incessant  ac- 
tivity with  which  he  had  appeared  overwhelmed  ever  since  our 
forced  departure.     We  threaded  the  well-peopled  streets,  and 
reached  the  battery.     He  had  offered  me  his  arm,  and  hurried 
on  as  if  he  were  in  haste  to  reach  it.     When  we  were  on  the 
grand  esplanade,  B.  hastened  still  more,  until  we  reached  the 
edge.     He  spoke  loudly  and  rapidly,  and  admired,  in  energetic 
terms,  the  beauties  of  the  scene.     Suddenly,  he  stopped  in  the 
midst  of  his  incoherent  talk.     I  had  disengaged  my  arm  from 
his,  and  stood  firmly  before  him.     I  fixed  my  eye  upon  him. 
He  moved  aside,  as  if  intimidated  and  ashamed.     'B.,'  cried  I, 
'your  intention  is  to  kill  me;  you  mean  to  throw  me  from  this 
height  into  the  sea!  Deny  it,  monster,  if  you  dare!'   The  insane 
man  looked  at  me  intently  with  his  haggard  eyes  for  a  moment; 
but  I  Avas  careful  not  to  remove  my  looks  from  him,  and  his  eyes 
fell.     He  muttered  some  incoherent  words,  and  endeavored  to 
pass  mc,  but  I  spread  my  arms  and  prevented  him.     Casting  a 
wild  look  around,  he  threw  himself  on  my  neck,  and  burst  into 
tears.  'It  is  true,  it  is  true,  my  friend!  the  thought  has  haunted 
me  day  and  night  like   an  infernal  flame.     It  was  for  that  I 
brought  you  here;  see,  you  are  not  a  foot  from  the  precipice! 


HALLUCINATIONS  IN  NIGHTMARE  AND  DREAMS.  201 

another  instant,  the  deed  would  have  been  done!'  The  demon 
had  abandoned  him;  his  eyes  Avere  void  of  expression;  a  white 
foam  covered  his  parched  lips  ;  the  crisis  had  passed.  I  con- 
ducted him  home.  Some  days  of  rest,  bleeding,  and  dieting 
entirely  cured  him,  and,  what  is  the  most  singular  circumstance 
of  all,  we  never  referred  to  the  occurrence.'' 

The  prince  was  persuaded  that,  on  that  day,  his  destiny 
would  have  been  decided,  and  he  never  spoke  on  the  subject 
without  the  greatest  emotion. 

This  kind  of  momentary  excitement,  which  never  recurs,  but 
leaves  an  ineffaceable  impression  on  the  imagination,  is,  says 
M.  Sigmond,  what  is  called  fantasia,  and  in  France,  pressenti- 
ment. Some  curious  examples  are  recorded  in  the  Annales 
Médico-psychologiques,  2d  série,  t.  ii.  p.  315-317,  translated 
from  the  Psychological  Journal  of  M.  Forbes  Winslow.  In  the 
Souvenirs  de  Mme.  de  Crêqui,  we  read  the  following  case  : — 

Case  LXXXIX. — The  Prince  de  Radzwil  had  adopted  an 
orphan  niece.  He  inhabited  a  chateau  in'Galicia,  in  which-was 
a  very  large  room  which  separated  the  apartments  of  the  prince 
from  those  occupied  by  the  children,  so  that,  in  order  to  com- 
municate, it  was  necessary  either  to  pass  through  this  room  or 
go  through  the  court-yard. 

The  little  Agnes,  five  or  six  years  old,  uttered  piercing 
shrieks  whenever  she  was  taken  through  the  apartment.  She 
pointed,  with  an  expression  of  terror,  to  an  enormous  picture 
that  hung  over  the  door,  representing  the  Cumeean  Sibyl. 
Many  attempts  were  made  to  vanquish  this  repugnance,  which 
was  attributed  to  childish  obstinacy;  but  the  attempts  led  to 
such  serious  consequences,  that  the  point  was  yielded,  and  for 
ten  or  twelve  years  the  young  girl  preferred,  during  all  weathers, 
traversing  the  vast  court-yard,  or  the  gardens,  to  passing 
through  that  door  which  gave  her  such  painful  impressions. 

Having  arrived  at  marriageable  age,  the  young  countess  was 
introduced  at  the  château.  During  the  evening,  the  company, 
desiring  some  merry  game,  repaired  to  the  large  parlor,  where, 
moreover,  the  wedding-ball  was  to  take  place.  Animated  by 
the  cheerful  scenes  around  her,  Agnes  did  not  hesitate  to  follow 
the  guests.  Scarcely  had  she  reached  the  portal  than  she  drew 
back,  and  acknowledged  her  fear.  According  to  custom,  she 
had  led  the  way,  and  her  bridegroom,  her  friends,  and  uncle, 


202  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

laughing  at  her  childishness,  closed  the  door  on  her.  But  the 
poor  girl  resisted,  and  the  door  being  violently  shaken,  the  pic- 
ture that  hung  over  it  fell  down.  An  angle  of  the  enormous 
mass  crushed  her  skull,  and  killed  her  on  the  spot.* 

There  may,  therefore,  be  manifested  in  certain  cases  a  dispo- 
sition in  the  nervous  system  by  which  the  individual  so  affected 
may  have  the  sensation  of  an  unexpected  event,  or  some  danger, 
or  unusual  occurrence.  All  travellers  who  have  threaded  the 
forests  of  the  New  World,  and  noticed  the  wild  natives,  speak 
of  the  extraordinary  movements  of  animals,  and  of  the  conduct 
of  the  savages  on  the  approach  of  some  great  catastrophe, 
whilst  Europeans  are  yet  inquiring  the  cause  of  these  excite- 
ments. Without  interfering  with  the  action  of  mind  upon 
matter,  we  are  firmly  convinced  that  imponderable  agents,  elec- 
tricity in  particular,  have  connections,  yet  unknown,  with  the 
organization  of  man. 

Many  of  the  cases  that  we  have  already  mentioned  prove  that 
the  operations  of  mind,  which  occur  in  dreams,  consist  principally 
in  past  remembrances  and  associations  following  each  other,  ac- 
cording to  a  law  of  succession  over  which  the  will  has  no  power; 
in  general,  the  impressions  are  weakened,  and  escape  the  empire 
of  that  faculty.  But  things  do  not  always  pass  thus,  and  the 
work  of  thought  may  be  continued  in  that  state.  These  are 
psychieal  dreams,  the  intuitive  dreams  of  M.  Macario.  M.  Bail- 
larger,  who  has  paid  attention  to  this  subject,  says  that,  ordi- 
narily, in  dreams,  hallucinations  are  psychical,  or  leave  no 
eensorial  impression.  They  also  relate  more  especially  to  the 
sense  of  hearing.  We  cannot  adopt  the  same  exclusive  idea  as 
to  this  sense. 

Case  XC.  Examples  of  persons  who  have  composed  in  dreams, 
are  not  of  uncommon  occurrence.  One  of  the  most  remarkable 
cases  of  this  nature,  is  that  to  which  we  owe  the  famous  sonata 
by  Tartini^^called  thePeviVg  Sonata.  This  celebrated  composer 
was  sleeping,  after  having^vainly  endeavored  to  finish  a  sonata  ; 
his  preoccupation  continued  during  sleep  ;  he  dreamed  that  he 
renewed  his  task,  and  was  in  despair  at  composing  Avith  so  little 
warmth  and  spirit,  Avhen  the  devil  suddenly  appeared  and  offered 

*  J,  Charpignon,  Physiologie  Médecine  et  Métaphysique  du  Magnetism, 
Paris,  1848,  p.  352. 


HALLUCINATIONS  IN  NIGHTMARE  AND  DREAMS.  203 

to  finish  his  sonata,  if  he  would  sell  his  soul  to  him.  Entirely 
under  the  influence  of  this  hallucination,  he  accepted  the  proposi- 
tion, when  he  heard  the  devil  execute  the  desired  sonata  on  the 
violin  with  an  inexpressible  charm  of  execution.  He  then  awoke, 
in  a  transport  of  delight,  hastened  to  his  desk,  and  wrote  down 
the  conclusion  to  which  he  had  just  listened.  This  is  probably 
the  most  remarkable  case  of  this  species  of  hallucination  that 
ever  occurred.* 

Condorcet  says,  that  he  was  frequently  obliged  to  give  up  his 
difficult  calculations,  in  order  to  rest.  Several  times,  in  his 
dreams,  the  work  was  done  for  him,  and  the  corollaries  correctly 
presented  to  his  mind. 

Franklin  related  to  Cabanis  that  political  combinations,  which 
had  often  embarrassed  him  during  the  day,  were  frequently 
made  clear  to  him  in  dreams. 

Hermas  was  asleep,  when,  it  is  said,  a  voice  dictated  to  him 
the  book,  which  he  called  the  Pasteur.  Some  persons  assert 
that  the  Divina  Commêdia  was  the  inspiration  of  a  dream. 

Galenowedhis  vocation  of  physician  to  a  dream,  in  which 
A^iollojippeared  to  him  on  two  different  occasions,  and  desired 
him  in  future  to  devote  himself  entirely  to  medicine.  This 
celebrated  physician  d\^elt  with  much  complacency  on  this 
event. 

It  is  equally  certain  that  some  dreams  take  so  strong  a  hold 
on  the  mind  that,  on  awaking,  evidence  is  needed  to  prove  that 
they  are  only  creations  of  the  imagination.  I  have  known 
dreams,  very  circumstantial,  produced  on  several  successive 
nights.  "I  remember,"  says  M.  Maury,  in  hi^ Memoir  (p.  31), 
"having  dreamed  eight  times  in  one  month  of  a  certain  person, 
whose  identity,  during  that  period,  remained  unchanged,  but 
whom  I  did  not  know,  and  who,  probably,  only  existed  in  my 
own  imagination.  And  what  is  strange,  he  frequently  continued 
actions  in  a  dream  that  had  been  commenced  in  a  former  one." 

It  often  happens  that  real  conversations  are  maintained  in  a 
dream.  Who  has  not  had  his  mind  occupied,  and  even  fatigued 
during  sleep,  by  some  discussion,  the  advantage  of  which  he 
has  not  always  retained?  It  would  seem  as  though  two  distinct 
individuals  held  different  opinions,  one  of  whom  came  off  vie- 

*  Moreau,  de  la  Sarte,  Melanges  de  Littérature. 


204  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

torious,  and  yet  these  seemingly  two  individuals  were  one  and 
the  same  person. 

Saint  Augustine  relates  the  following  fact  : — 

Case  XCI.  A  learned  man,  who  was  deeply  engaged  in  read- 
ing Plato,  said  that  one  night,  in  his  own  house,  and  before 
going  to  sleep,  he  saw  a  philosopher,  whom  he  knew  intimately, 
come  to  him,  and  expound  some  Platonic  propositions — a  thing 
which  he  had  always  hitherto  refused  to  do.  On  the  following 
day,  he  was  asked  why  he  explained  that  in  a  strange  house 
which  he  refused  to  do  in  his  own.  "I  did  not  do  so,"  replied 
the  philosopher,  "but  I  dreamed  that  I  did." 

"Thus,"  adds  Saint  Augustine,  "the  one  sees  and  hears,  when 
perfectly  awake,  by  the  force  of  imagination,  what  the  other 
acted  in  a  dream." 

"For  ourselves,"  he  adds,  "had  it  been  indifferently  related 
to  us  by  indifferent  people,  we  should  have  scorned  to  place  any 
faith  in  it;  but  we  know  that  he  who  related  the  fact  is  inca- 
pable of  imposition."* 

The  hallucinations  of  dreams  are  almost  always  effaced  on 
waking,  or,  if  their  impression  continues,  they  do  not  exert  any 
sensible  influence  on  the  conduct;  but  it  is  not  so  when  they  are 
the  forerunners  of  a  sickness,  a  mental  .alienation,  or  when  they 
are  manifested  in  the  sleep  of  the  insane.  They  then  j^resent 
an-  extreme  intensity,  a  very  powerful  tenacity,  and  remain 
deeply  engraven  on  the  memory. 

Pathological  dreams  have  been  noticed  by  all  observers,  and 
there  is  no  doubt  that  they  might  afford  useful  indications. 
Galen  speaks  of  a  sick  person  who  dreamed  that  he  had  a 
stone  leg;  and  says  that,  sometime  afterwards,  that  leg  was 
paralyzed. 

The  learned  Conrad  Gessner  dreamed  one  night  that  he  was 
bitten  in  the  left  breast  by  a  serpent,  and  a  deep  and  severe 
lesion  was  soon  manifested  in  that  very  spot;  it  was,  in  fact,  a 
carbuncle,  that  terminated  fatally  at  the  end  of  five  days. 

Nervous  diseases,  and  especially  mental  alienation,  are  most 
frequently  preceded  by  whimsical  and  extraordinary  dreams. 

Odier,  of  Geneva,  was  consulted,  in  "1778,  by  a  lady  of  Ly- 
ons, who,  the  night  before  the  derangement  of  mind  occurred, 

*  St.  Augustine,  quoted  from  Dieu,  liv.  xviii.  ch.  sviii. 


HALLUCINATIONS  IN  NIGHTMARE  AND  DREAMS.  205 

dreamed  that  her  mother-in-law  approached  her  with  a  poniard, 
in  order  to  kill  her.  This  strong  impression,  increasing  in  in- 
tensity during  the  following  day,  became  hypochondria,  and 
finally  assumed  all  the  characteristics  of  real  insanity. 

In  cases  where  the  mind  is  disposed  to  mysticism,  or  to  great 
preoccupation,  we  witness  the  same  results. 

Case  XCII.  "In  1610,"  says  Van  Helmont,  "being  much 
fatigued  with  deep  thinking,  during  which  I  had  endeavored  to 
acquire  some  knowledge  of  my  soul,  I  slept.  I  was  soon  raised 
above  the  fetters  of  reason;  and  it  appeared  to  me  that  I  was 
in  a  dark  room  ;  on  the  left-hand  side  I  saw  a  table,  and  on  it 
a  bottle  containing  a  liquid,  which  thus  addressed  me  :  '  Dost 
thou  wish  for  honors  and  riches  ?'  I  was  stupefied  at  hear- 
ing these  words.  I  paced  up  and  down,  endeavoring  to  under- 
stand Avhat  this  could  mean.  On  the  right  hand  appeared  a  slit 
in  the  wall  through  which  shone  a  light,  the  brightness  of  which 
made  me  forget  the  voice  and  the  liquid,  and  changed  the  cur- 
rent of  my  thoughts,  for  I  contemplated  things  surpassing  the 
power  of  speech.  This  light  lasted  but  an  instant.  In  despair, 
I  returned  to  the  bottle,  which  I  carried  away  with  me.  I  wished 
to  taste  the  liquid  it  contained.  With  great  exertion,  I  uncorked 
it,  but  experienced  a  sensation  of  horror,  and  awoke.  Still,  my  de- 
sire to  comprehend  the  nature  of  the  soul  continued.  This  desire 
lasted  for  twenty-three  years,  that  is  to  say,  until  1633,  when  I 
had  a  vision,  during  which  my  own  soul  was  exhibited  to  my 
astonished  sight.  It  was  a  perfectly  homogeneous  light,  com- 
posed of  a  spiritual  substance,  crystalline,  and  brilliant.  It  was 
shut  up  like  a  pea  in  its  shell,  and  I  heard  a  voice  saying  to  me: 
'Here  is  what  thou  sawest  through  the  chink  in  the  wall!'  It  is 
in  the  soul  that  that  vision  operated;  he,  who  sees  his  own  soul 
with  his  earthly  eyes,  shall  become  blind."* 

Accordins  to  M.  Calmeil,  when  dreams  exercised  a  universal 
empire  over  the  mind,  and  the  world  was  plunged  in  ignorance, 
the  greater  number  of  votaries  who  went  into  the  temples  of  Isis, 
Esculapius,  and  Serapis,  to  implore  aid,  as  well  as  many  sectari- 
ans, and  those  whom  religion  had  not  enlightened,  obeyed  the 
hallucinations  of  sleep. 

*  Van  Helmont,  Ortus  Medicinae  Imago  mentis,  etc.,  vol.  i.  quarto, 
p.  269,  Amsterodami,  1643. 


206  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

In  the  times  of  sorcerers,  the  magistrates  asserted  that  the 
bewitched  had  not  quitted  their  prisons,  notwithstanding  they 
declared  they  had  just  arrived  from  the  witches'  sabbath,  and 
ended  by  believing  that  the  soul  went  there  alone,  or  that  the 
devil  fascinated  their  eyes,  and  assumed  the  shape  of  the  persons 
accused. 

In  the  first  ages  of  the  church,  only  a  few  select  persons  were 
instructed.  The  common  people,  who  could  neither  read  nor 
write,  were  only  struck  with  the  material  view  of  Christianity. 
They,  therefore,  adhered  to  its  forms,  and  accepted  it  in  its  literal 
sense.  This  was  the  era  of  dreams,  which  commanded  the  faith 
of  many  Platonists.  It  is  not  then  surprising  that  individuals 
existed,  who,  impressed  by  a  dream,  ended  by  believing  in  its 
reality,  and  persuaded  others  that  these  visions  had,  independ- 
ently of  their  fancy,  a  real  cause.  Without  doubt,  many  of  the 
histories  related  in  the  Cfolden  Legend  had  no  other  source.  In 
fact,  it  is  impossible  to  attribute  a  more  rational  origin  to  the 
singular  narrations  this  book  contains. 

Case  XCIII.  The  following  details  were  communicated  by  a 
minister  worthy  of  belief  to  the  Editors  of  the  Magasin  Psy- 
cJiologique.  The  lady,  to  whom  they  relate,  reasoned  well  on 
every  subject  but  that  of  her  visions.  We  prefer  quoting  her 
own  words:  "When  I  was  four  years  old,  and  playing  like 
other  children  of  my  age,  I  had  placed  the  Bible  under  my 
feet,  in  order  more  conveniently  to  dress  my  doll,  when  I  heard 
a  voice  whisper  in  my  ear:  'Put  that  Bible  in  its  place.'  As  I 
did  not  obey,  thinking  I  was  mistaken,  the  same  order  was  re- 
peated. At  seven  years  old,  my  sister  and  myself  were  fright- 
ened, by  the  sight,  in  the  room,  of  a  large,  clear  flame,  in  the 
midst  of  which  we  saw  a  child  about  six  years  of  age.  Our  cries 
attracted  our  parents,  who  scolded  us  for  our  unfounded  fears  ; 
but  the  event  was  engraven  on  our  memories. 

"In  1770,  my  husband  and  myself  quitted  Strasbourg  on  ac- 
count of  the  dearness  of  provisions.  During  the  voyage,  the 
Lord  appeared  to  me  in  a  dream,  and  talked  with  me  for  half 
an  hour.  In  the  following  year,  after  severe  domestic  troubles, 
I  saw  one  morning,  on  waking,  a  man  about  sixty  years  of  age, 
of  celestial  countenance,  dressed  in  a  robe  of  blue.  His  face 
was  as  clear  as  the  purest  crystal.  He  looked  with  tenderness 
on  me,  and  said:  'Persevere,  persevere,  persevere!'    I  was  igno- 


HALLUCINATIONS  IN  NIGHTMARE  AND  DREAMS.  207 

rant  to  what  it  alluded,  when  a  young  person,  by  his  side,  as 
beautiful  as  an  angel,  said  to  me  :  '  Persevere  in  prayer,  in  faith, 
in  works.' 

"  While  they  were  talking  to  me,  a  light  shone  into  the  cham- 
ber, and  then  disappeared.  At  the  same  moment,  it  seemed  to 
me  that  they  were  dragging  me  about  by  the  hair;  the  pain,  how- 
ever, was  endurable.  The  light  reappeared,  and  the  pain  ceased; 
when  darkness  again  succeeded,  I  thought  they  were  pulling  off" 
my  flesh  with  pincers.  After  several  alternations  of  darkness 
and  violent  pains,  I  saw  the  devil  come  out  from  behind  the  bed, 
with  his  back  towards  me.  All  that  I  could  distinguish  was  his 
arm  and  his  tail  about  two  inches  thick.  I  had  no  time  to  exa- 
mine further,  for  the  angel  shoved  him  out  with  his  elbow. 

"  The  light  again  appearing,  the  two  persons  contemplated  me 
with  a  melancholy  air.  The  young  man  then  said  :  'Lord,  that 
is  enough  ;'  which  he  repeated  three  times.  1  looked  attentively 
at  him,  and  saw  two  large  white  wings  on  his  shoulders,  by 
which  I  knew  him  to  be  an  angel.  Darkness  reappearing,  peace 
again  came  to  my  heart;  I  arose,  it  was  about  five  o'clock  in 
the  morning.  The  year  following,  I  was  again  favored  with  the 
appearance  of  the  Lord. 

"  In  1773,  having  returned  to  my  husband,  mj  life  became 
so  unhappy  that  I  thought  only  of  death.  One  morning,  on 
waking,  I  looked  up  to  heaven,  and  saw  a  sea-dog  sailing  in 
the  air.  When  he  had  passed,  the  clouds  descended  towards 
me,  and  my  eyes  contemplated  the  most  varied  objects.  The 
house  of  God  was  in  the  midst,  surrounded  with  a  clear  blue  cloud, 
and  resplendent  with  colors  unknown  upon  the  earth.  In  every 
color  were  thousands  of  men,  whose  robes  were  tinted  with  the 
same  hue  ;  all  their  faces  were  turned  towards  the  habitation  of 
the  Most  High. — A  charming  woman  dressed  in  dazzling  clothes, 
with  a  crown  on  her  head,  came  out.  She  was  accompanied  by 
three  angels,  one  on  the  right,  the  other  on  the  left,  and  another 
stood  behind  her;  they  pointed  to  a  crown,  that  reflected  the 
most  brilliant  colors. 

"  The  heavens  closed,  and  opened  again  ;  but  the  woman  and 
the  angels  had  disappeared.  Our  Lord  then  came  with  a  long 
train  of  attendants,  and  descended  in  his  glory.  They  all 
smiled  on  me;  they  were  robed  in  white,  and  surrounded  by  a 
halo.     When  near  enough  for  me  to  touch  his  feet,  I  was  seized 


208  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

with  fear,  and  awol^e.*  The  greater  number  of  these  visions 
occurred  in  sleep,  or  at  the  moment  of  waking." 

The  recollection  of  dreams  may  be  so  entirely  effaced,  as  to 
drive  from  the  mind  the  sense  of  having  slept.  Probably  some 
of  the  stories  of  second  sight  are  only  dreams  of  this  nature. 
It  is  thus  that  Abercrombie  explains  the  case  of  Ferriar,  which 
we  have  already  mentioned,  and  which  Hibbert  has  criticized. 
The  reasons  which  the  former  of  the  three  physicians  has  ad- 
vanced, appear  to  us  very  forcible  and  probable. 

Sleep  with  monomaniacs  has  always  been  a  source  of  import- 
ant indications.  Esquirol,  convinced  of  this,  has  often  passed 
the  night  in  listening  to  them,  and,  more  than  once,  his  patience 
has  been  rewarded  by  the  patient  exhibiting,  in  his  sleep,  the 
cause  of  his  delirium. 

Case  XCIV.  A  foreign  lady,  aged  forty,  was  several  years 
ago  brought  to  our  establishment.  All  the  information  that  we 
could  gain  relative  to  her,  was  limited  to  the  fact  that  for  twenty 
years  she  had  been  subject  to  intermittent  attacks  of  insanity  ; 
but  we  could  learn  nothing  of  the  circumstances  that  had  pro- 
duced them.  One  morning,  another  person  suffering  under 
hysteric  monomania  entered  my  room,  and  said  :  "I  want  to  tell 
you  something!  My  neighbor  is  the  celebrated  Louisa.  All 
night  she  has  been  talking  with  a  person  of  whom  she  implored 
pardon  for  having  caused  him  to  be  taken  before  the  tribunal, 
or  else  heaping  abuse  on  him;  her  conversation  was  mingled 
with  the  words  poniard,  assassin,  deserted  child,  hospital,  etc. 
I  questioned  her  on  her  awaking,  but  failed  to  gain  any  light 
on  the  subject." 

In  order  to  understand  this  history,  we  must  relate  that,  one 
year  before,  a  merchant  had  brought  his  wife  to  our  establish- 
ment to  have  her  treated  for  a  mental  affection.  The  lady,  who 
was  very  proud,  was  attacked  with  a  disputatious  and  wicked 
monomania,  and  had  such  a  hatred  of  her  husband,  that  she  had 
made  several  attempts  on  his  life.  After  passing  some  time  in 
my  house,  she  confided  to  the  other  boarders  that  her  husband 
was  a  wretch  who  had  shamefully  ill  treated  her.  "  I  could  de- 
stroy him,  if  I  chose,"  said  she;  "I  need  but  relate  his  infamous 

*  Alexander  Crichton,  An  Inquiry  into  the  Nature  and  Origin  of  Men- 
tal Derangement,  p.  45,  London,  1798. 


HALLUCINATIONS  IN  NIGHTMARE  AND  DREAMS.  209 

conduct  towards  a  young  person,  ■whom,  in  a  fit  of  jealousy,  and 
perhaps  to  rid  himself  of,  he  stabbed,  twenty  years  since.  Al- 
though he  was  saved  then  by  the  devotedness  of  his  victim,  who 
declared  to  the  magistrate  that  she  had  attempted  her  own  life, 
he  had  the  baseness  to  desert  her,  with  her  child.  The  poor 
creature  was  in  despair  ;  had  she  been  removed  into  an  insane 
hospital,  she  would  probably  have  died." 

The  Louise  that  we  tell  of  was  the  heroine  of  one  of  those 
domestic  dramas,  much  more  fruitful  in  events  than  any  that 
are  represented  in  the  theatre. 

Leuret,  in  his  Fragmens  Psychologiques,  has  remarked  that 
there  are  some  deranged  persons  who  reason,  during  the  day, 
according  to  the  ideas  and  perceptions  of  the  night.  They  are 
very  capable  of  appreciating  justly  what  they  see  during  their 
waking  hours,  and,  provided  they  do  not  mingle  in  their  con- 
versation recollections  of  their  dreams,  they  are  perfectly  sane. 

The  coincidence  which  sometimes  exists  between  dreams  and 
insanity  has  been  sufficiently  pointed  out.  Here  is  a  case  in 
support  of  this  opinion  :  A  maniac  whom  Dr.  Gregory  attended, 
and  who  was  completely  cured,  had,  in  a  week  after  his  recovery, 
dreams,  in  which  he  was  annoyed  with  the  same  hurried  thoughts 
and  violent  passions  which  he  had  during  his  madness. 

Nocturnal  hallucinations  have  sometimes  exhibited  themselves 
in  an  epidemic  form.  We  have  spoken  of  Hungarians,  who  saw 
in  their  dreams  the  shades  of  their  relatives  recently  interred 
come  to  them,  and  felt  that  they  sucked  their  blood. 
'  There  are  some  hallucinations  that  commence  in  sleep,  and, 
being  reproduced  during  several  consecutive  nights,  are  finally 
accepted  as  realities.  The  widow  Schoul  heard  a  voice  for 
several  nights,  which  said  to  her:  "Kill  your  daughter!"  At 
first  she  resisted,  and  drove  away  the  thought  on  awaking;  but 
the  idea  soon  became  fixed  ;  it  no  longer  disappeared  with  her 
sleep,  and,  after  some  days,  the  unhappy  woman  destroyed  her 
child. 

Recapitulation. — The  nightmare,  presenting  a  strong  ana- 
logy to  madness,  it  is  not  surprising  that  it  is  combined  with 
hallucinations. 

The  hallucinations  of  nightmare  are  observable  in  childhood. 
They  are  also  noticed  at  different  stages  of  life. 
14 


210  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

Hallucinations  have  often  been  observed  in  nightmare  nnder 
an  intermittent  form. 

In  nightmare,  as  in  madness,  it  sometimes  happens  that  per- 
sons are  conscious  that  the  phenomena  they  experience  are  not 
real. 

The  hallucinations  produced  by  nightmare  usually  cease  on 
waking;  but  they  may  be  continued  during  waking  hours,  and 
be  taken  for  realities. 

The  hallucinations  of  nightmare  are  frequently  observed  in 
insanity. 

The  hallucinations  of  nightmare  serve  as  a  natural  transition 
to  those  of  sleep,  which  only  differ  from  waking  hallucinations 
by  their  intensity  and  by  certain  psychological  conditions.  In- 
deed, it  was  long  ago  remarked  that  an  hallucinated  person  was 
only  a  waking  dreamer. 

During  sleep  the  operations  of  the  mind  are  no  longer  sub- 
jected to  the  control  of  the  will,  and  all  ideas  that  are  then 
formed,  are  received  as  so  many  realities. 

The  hallucinations  of  dreams  may  be  traced  to  bygone  remi- 
niscences, or  the  association  of  ideas. 

Many  authentic  facts  seem  to  prove  that  the  hallucinations  of 
dreams  may  communicate  the  knowledge  of  an  event  that  is 
passing  at  a  given  time;  in  this  case  it  is  probable,  however, 
that  it  is  but  a  simple  coincidence,  or  a  reminiscence. 

Presentiments  are  often  naturally  explained;  but  there  are 
cases  in  which  they  may  be  attributed  to  unknown  physical  or 
moral  influences,  or  to  the  real  phenomena  of  somnambulism  or 
magnetism. 

If  impressions  are  generally  weakened  in  dreams,  there  are 
cases  which  prove  that  the  operations  of  the  mind  may  take 
place,  as  in  a  waking  state,  and  even  be  exercised  with  remark- 
able precision,  rapidity,  and  power. 

In  general,  the  hallucinations  of  dreams  cease  on  waking;  or, 
if  they  still  retain  a  certain  energy,  they  have  no  influence  on 
the  conduct.  In  insanity,  on  the  contrary,  they  exhibit  an  ex- 
treme intensity,  and  great  fixedness  of  character,  and  remain 
deeply  engraven  on  the  memory. 

Popular  belief  and  religious  opinions  have  concurred  in  im- 
parting great  influence  to  the  hallucinations  of  sleep.  It  is, 
therefore,  not  surprising  that  some  persons,  extremely  impressed 


HALLUCINATIONS  IN  NIGHTMARE  AND  DREAMS.  211 

by  their  dreams,  have  succeeded  in  imparting  their  opinions  to 
the  mass  of  the  people.  It  is  also  possible  that  in  this  case,  the 
recollection  of  nocturnal  hallucinations  has  been  entirely  lost, 
and  the  mind  has  accepted  as  reality  that  which  was,  in  fact, 
but  a  dream. 

Some  authors  think  that  the  cases  of  second  sight  are  only 
hallucinations  of  sleep. 

Dreams  in  neuroses  and  insanity  may  furnish  many  valuable 
indications  of  the  malady. 

Many  insane  persons  reason  during  the  day  in  conformity 
with  the  ideas  and  perceptions  of  the  night. 

The  disorders  that  have  occurred  during  mental  alienation 
may  be  reproduced  during  sleep,  after  a  cure  has  been  effected. 

Nocturnal  hallucinations  have  sometimes  exhibited  themselves 
in  an  epidemic  form. 

Hallucinations,  after  being  repeated  for  several  nights  peri- 
odically, may  become  permanent  during  the  day. 


CHAPTER    XII. 

OF  HALLUCINATIONS  IN  ECSTASY,  MAGNETISM,  AND 
SOMNAMBULISM. 

Section  I. — Ecstasy  is  very  favorable  to  hallucinations — Case — Religious  ecsta- 
sies— Times  and  circumstances  favorable  to  ecstasies — Physiological  ecstasy — 
Morbid  ecstasy — This  division  allows  the  convenient  classification  of  subjects 
of  ecstasy — Ecstatic  subjects — Ecstasies  noticed  in  children — Various  forms  of 
ecstasy  ;  cataleptic,  hysteric,  mystic,  maniac,  monomaniac,  and  epidemic — 
Ecstatic  sleep — The  scarred  maiden  of  the  Tyrol — Ecstatic  phenomena  have 
been  exhibited  in  all  ages — The  preaching  disease  in  Sweden — Ecstatic  hallu- 
cinations of  religious  persons. 

Section  II. — Of  foresight,  second  sight,  magnetism,  and  somnambulism,  in  con- 
nection -with  hallucinations — Analogy  between  somnambulism  and  dreams — 
Of  diurnal  somnambulism — Of  moral  freedom  in  the  hallucinations  of  somnam- 
bulism.— Recapitulation. 

SECT.  I.- OF  HALLUCINATIONS  IN  ECSTASY. 

Ail  who  have  written  on  this  subject  are  agreed  on  one  point, 
namely,  that  those  only  whose  habitual  feelings  and  ideas  are 
elevated  above  the  standard  of  ordinary  intellectual  life,  come 
under  its  influence.  At  the  same  time,  they  are  able  to  concen- 
trate their  thoughts  to  a  high  degree,  and  are  consequently  in  a 
painful  state  of  mind  and  body.  An  exception  must,  however, 
be  made  with  respect  to  religious  habits  and  mental  alienation. 
The  influence  which  they  exercise  on  the  organization,  occasions 
ecstatic  crises  in  persons  of  very  ordinary  intellect.  The  most 
celebrated  subjects  of  ecstasy  are  inflamed  with  the  love  of 
religion,  of  morality,  of  poetry,  of  the  fine  arts,  of  the  sciences, 
of  philosophy  ;  they  are  devoted  to  the  contemplation  of  the 
Divinity,  and  of  nature.  Such  a  state  of  mind  is  eminently 
favorable  for  the  production  of  hallucinations,  which  are  very 
common  among  such  persons. 

Case  XCV.  The  famous  Count  Emmanuel  Swedenborg  be- 
lieved that  he  had  the  privilege  of  enjoying  interviews  with  the 


HALLUCINATIONS  IN  ECSTASY,  MAGNETISM,  SOMNAMBULISM.      213 

world  of  spirits.  In  his  letters,  he  has  given  descriptions  of  the 
places  that  he  visited,  and  the  conversations  he  heard.  "The 
Lord  himself,"  he  says,  in  a  letter  prefixed  to  his  theological 
dissertations,  "  has  deigned  to  show  himself  to  his  unworthy  ser- 
vant ;  he  has  revealed  to  me  the  spiritual  world,  permitted  me 
to  converse  with  spiritual  powers,  which  indulgence  has  been 
continued  to  me  unto  this  day."* 

*  See  Arnold,  Observations  on  the  Nature,  Kinds,  Causes,  and  Prevention 
of  Insanity,  2  vols,  in  8vo.,  London,  1806;  the  Monthly  Revieio  for  June, 
1770,  vol.  Ixii.  p.  455,  and  for  November,  1778,  vol.  lix.  p.  365;  and 
especially  The  Wonders  of  Heai-en  and  Hell,  by  Emmanuel  Swedenborg, 
translated  from  the  Latin,  by  A.  J.  P.,  2  vols,  in  8vo.,  p.  85,  Berlin,  1782. 
We  subjoin  a  note  on  the  doctrine  by  this  leader  of  the  Illuminât!. 

"  The  transmission  of  the  mysteries  of  ancient  religions,  and  principally 
of  the  Kabbala,  mixed  with  the  dogmas  of  revealed  religion,  constitutes 
Illuminism. 

"Jacob  Boehm,  a  poor  German  shoemaker,  who  lived  in  the  seventeenth 
century,  was  one  of  the  most  ardent  propagators  of  the  illuminism  of  the 
three  principles  ;  but  to  Swedenborg  its  developments  are  due.  In  Lon- 
don, in  1788,  moi'e  than  6000  persons  embraced  the  religious  opinions  of 
this  theosophist." 

In  his  treatise  on  Heaven  and  Hell,  he  declares  that  he  saw  the  Lord, 
that  he  spoke  with  angels  and  spirits  as  with  men,  during  twenty-eight  years. 
His  first  interview  with  God,  as  stated  in  his  letter  to  M.  Roboam,  was  in 
the  year  1745. 

"God  revealed  to  him  that  he  should  make  known  to  the  world  the  new 
church  of  which  John  speaks  in  the  Apocalypse,  under  the  name  of  the 
New  Jerusalem.  He  adds:  'It  is  probable  I  may  not  be  believed;  I  can- 
not place  others  where  God  has  placed  me.'  " 

In  considering  Sw^edenborg  as  an  ecstatic,  none  can  refuse  him  credit 
for  an  enthusiasm  full  of  faith,  and  a  great  elevation  of  thought. 

It  is  impossible  here  to  give  any  idea  of  his  system  ;  but  we  may  say, 
that  he  bases  his  most  exalted  principles  on  Holy  Writ  and  the  Gospels. 
"It  is  perhaps,"  says  M.  Ferd.  Denis,  "the  most  poetical  and  religious 
transport  that  has  been  manifested  by  a  soul  initiated  into  the  mysteries 
of  the  Kabbala.  A  proof  of  the  intimate  relations  which  exist  between 
his  system  and  the  ancient  Kabbala,  is,  that  the  object  to  which  be  pur- 
poses to  lead  us,  is  the  science  of  correspondences  known  to  the  ancients, 
which  is  no  other  than  the  connection  of  men  with  spirits.  According  to 
him,  the  book  of  Job  is  full  of  correspondences,  the  hieroglyphics  of  the 
Egyptians.  The  ancient  fables  are  only  a  disguised  expression  of  these  cor- 
respondences, of  which  we  have  lost  the  key."  (See  the  article  Ilhiminisme, 
by  Ferdinand  Denis,  op.  cit.,  p.  186,  and  le  Livre  des  Merveilles  du  Ciel  et  de 
l'Enfer,  by  Swedenborg.)  We  have  related,  in  V Union  Médicale,  Septem- 
ber, 1851,  a  most  curious  hallucination  of  Swedenborg  relative  to  spiritu- 
alism and  materialism. 


214  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

Case  XCVI.  The  visions  of  Jean  Engelbrecht  bear  a  close 
resemblance  to  those  of  Swedenborg.  After  passing  many 
years  in  a  frightful  state  of  suffering  and  melancholy,  which  had 
frequently  tempted  him  to  suicide,  this  doctor  at  length  ap- 
peared to  die,  and  then  returned  to  life.  During  the  short  space 
of  his  apparent  death,  he  imagined  that  he  had  visited  both 
heaven  and  hell.  From  this  time,  his  melancholy  left  him,  and 
was  succeeded  by  a  religious  exaltation.  We  subjoin  the  suc- 
cinct description,  which  he  gives  of  his  experience  during  this 
singular  state: — 

"On  Thursday  morning  I  felt  that  my  death  was  near,  and 
that  it  commenced  in  the  inferior,  and  passed  towards  the  supe- 
rior extremities.  My  body  became  stiff;  I  lost  all  sensibility  in 
my  feet,  hands,  and  other  parts.  I  could  neither  see  nor  speak; 
my  mouth  was  paralyzed  ;  my  eyes  no  longer  perceived  light. 
I  heard  the  attendants  say:  'Eeel  his  limbs;  how  cold  and  stiff 
they  are!  he  will  soon  be  dead.'  I  did  not  feel  their  touch,  and 
hearing  itself  soon  departed.  I  was  then  carried  into  space 
with  the  swiftness  of  an  arrow  from  a  bow.  During  this  voyage, 
I  reached  the  gate  of  hell.  A  fearful  darkness  and  thick  clouds 
struck  my  sight;  my  olfactories  were  painfully  affected  by  a 
smoke,  a  vapor,  an  emanation  of  horrible  effluvia.  I  heard 
bowlings,  and  dreadful  lamentations. 

"  Thence  I  was  transported,  by  the  Holy  Spirit,  in  a  golden 
chariot,  to  the  midst  of  the  splendors  of  heaven,  where  I  saw  a 
choir  of  holy  angels,  prophets,  and  apostles,  singing  and  play- 
ing around  the  throne  of  the  Most  High.  The  angels  resembled 
flames  of  fire,  and  the  redeemed  souls  appeared  as  bright  sparks. 
The  throne  of  God  was  dazzling.  I  then  received  a  message 
from  God,  transmitted  by  an  angel." 

The  joy  which  Engelbrecht  felt  in  this  communication  and 
spectacle  was  so  great,  that  from  that  moment  he  was  an  en- 
thusiast, who  could  hardly  find  words  to  express  what  was  pass- 
ing in  his  heart. 

"On  returning  to  myself,"  he  continues,  "I  felt  my  body  re- 
animated from  the  head  downwards,  and  I  began  to  hear  the 
prayers  that  were  being  offered  in  my  room.  Sight  succeeded 
hearing.  By  degrees  my  strength  returned.  I  arose,  and  felt 
more  vigorous  than  I  had  ever  felt  before.     Celestial  joy  had  so 


HALLUCINATIONS  IN  ECSTASY",  MAGNETISM,  SOMNAMBULISM.      215 

strengthened  me,  that  the  people  were  extremely  surprised  to 
see  me  recover  in  so  short  a  time." 

From  that  period,  during  several  years,  Jean  had  visions  and 
revelations  during  the  day,  whilst  his  eyes  were  open,  and  Avith- 
out  any  symptoms  of  the  malady  that  had  preceded  the  first 
vision.  He  passed  sometimes  eight,  ten,  thirteen  days,  and  even 
three  weeks,  without  either  eating  or  drinking.  Once,  he  re- 
mained for  nine  months  without  closing  his  eyes.  On  another 
occasion,  he  heard,  during  a  period  of  forty-one  nights,  angels 
sing  and  play  celestial  music;  and  could  not  help  joining  with 
them.  The  persons  with  him  were  so  transported  with  joy,  that 
they  sang  with  him  during  a  whole  night.* 

The  state  of  ecstasy  being  a  phenomenon  of  extreme  nervous 
excitability,  it  is  clear  that  it  must  be  manifested  at  all  periods 
when  the  mind  has  been  agitated  by  fanaticism,  and  by  a  belief 
which  brings  in  its  train  either  ardent  hopes  or  strong  fears. 
Hence  it  is  evident  that  it  has  been  more  prevalent  in  times  of 
ignorance,  than  at  those  periods  in  which  a  more  advanced 
civilization  has  enabled  reason  to  triumph  over  imagination. 
This  remark  is  undeniably  true;  and  a  very  little  erudition  is 
required  to  acknowledge  the  existence  of  ecstasy  in  the  pytho- 
nesses of  antiquity,  in  those  initiated  into  diiferent  mysteries, 
the  famous  sects  of  the  Middle  Ages,  the  possessed,  the  con- 
vulsed, Shakers,  Hluminati,  et  cetera. 

But  if  the  psychological  history  of  man  proves  that,  whenever 
he  is  exposed  to  a  permanent  moral  excitation,  his  organization 
becomes  susceptible  of  experiencing  the  phenomenon  of  ecstasy, 
it  is  essential  to  establish  a  distinction  of  the  highest  importance 
between  the  ecstasy  that  I  shall  call  2^^^^ biological  and  a  morbid 
ecstasy.  In  other  words,  we  believe  that  ecstasy  may  have  no 
influence  on  the  reason,  and  is  but  a  very  exalted  state  of  enthu- 
siasm, whilst  it  may  also  occasion  reprehensible  and  unreason- 
able actions.    It  is  often  very  difficult  to  distinguish  the  shades  of 

*  Arnold,  op.  cit.,  p.  219.  See  the  singular  work  of  S.  Alph.  Cahagnet, 
Arcanes  de  la  vie  futur  dévoilés,  2  vols.,  Paris,  1849.  The  statement  pub- 
lished by  M.  le  Docteur  Carrière,  in  the  Annales  Médico-Psychologiques  du 
Sanctuaire  du  Spiritualism,  by  the  same  author,  is  calculated  to  excite  the 
curiosity  and  arrest  the  attention  of  the  readers  of  the  works  of  M.  Ca- 
hagnet, which  appear  to  us  to  have  more  than  one  point  of  resemblance  to 
the  works  of  Swedenborg. 


216  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

difference  between  tliem,  and  which,  nevertheless,  prove  the  infinite 
number  of  modifications  of  our  being.  There  will  always  be  an  in- 
surmountable difficulty,  when  we  attempt  to  separate  the  farthest 
limits  of  reason  from  the  first  approaches  of  insanity.  M.  Lélut, 
in  his  Analogies  de  la  Raison  et  de  la  Folie^  and  M.  Moreau,  in 
his  Chaintre  oublié  de  la  Patliologie  mentale,  have  made  some 
attempts  to  clear  up  the  question;  but  to  those  who  have  studied 
the  subject,  it  is  scarcely  more  than  glanced  at. 

This  division  ranks  in  one  class  prophets,  saints,  philosophers, 
and  many  illustrious  persons,  who  have  fallen  into  a  state  of  ec- 
stasy from  profound  meditation,  a  sudden  illumination  of  their 
thoughts,  or  a  supernatural  intuition,  and  places  in  another 
class,  beside  the  individuals  already  pointed  out,  the  nuns  of 
Loudon,  the  Shakers  of  Cevennes,  the  convulsed  of  Saint  Mé- 
dard,  and  the  sick  who  submitted  to  the  exorcisms  of  Gassner, 
etc.  This  second  category  comprehends  likewise  the  Illuminati, 
the  Martinists,  the  Begards,  the  Troglodytes,*  the  quietists  of 
Mount  Athos,  many  of  whom  boasted  of  having  seen  God  face 
to  face.  It  will  be  remembered  that  Madame  Guyon,  whose 
opinions  have  excited  so  much  attention,  said  that,  on  reaching 
the  highest  degree  of  her  condition,  she  saw  God  and  his  angels. 

It  would  seem  as  though  ecstasy  should  be  only  induced  in 
individuals  in  whom  imagination  has  had  time  for  development  ; 
but  experience  shows  that  this  phenomenon  exists  even  in  a 
number  of  very  young  children.  In  the  Théâtre  Sacré  des 
Cevennes  (p.  20),  we  read  that  children  of  eight  and  six  years, 
and  even  younger  still,  fell  into  ecstasies,  and  preached  and 
prophesied  with  others. f 

In  1566,  a  number  of  children,  brought  up  in  the  hospital  of 
the  city  of  Amsterdam,  girls  as  Avell  as  boys,  to  the  number  of 
sixty  or  seventy,  were  attacked  with  an  extraordinary  disease  ; 
they  climbed  like  cats  on  the  walls  and  roofs.  Their  aspect  was 
alarming;  they  spoke  foreign  languages;  said  wonderful  things, 
and  even  gave  an  account  of  all  that  was  then  passing  in  the 
municipal  council.  It  happened  that  one  of  these  children  re- 
vealed to  Catharine  Gesardi,  one  of  the  nurses  of  the  hospital, 
that  her  son,  Jean  Nicolai,  was  preparing  his  departure  for  La 

*  The  Troglodytes  were  pure  Arians. 
t  Encyclopédie  Catholique,  p.  430. 


HALLUCINATIONS  IN  ECSTASY,  MAGNETISM,  SOMNAMBULISM.      21T 

Haye,  and  that  his  errand  was  for  evil.  This  woman  went  im- 
mediately to  the  Basilica,  which  she  reached  just  as  the  Council 
was  about  to  rise.  She  found  her  son  there,  who  was  himself  a 
member  of  the  council,  and  asked  him,  if  it  was  true  that  he 
was  going  to  La  Haye.  Much  confused,  he  confessed  that  he 
was  ;  and,  on  hearing  that  the  child  had  revealed  it,  he  returned 
and  informed  the  council,  who,  finding  their  project  was  dis- 
covered, abandoned  it. 

These  children  ran  in  groups,  of  ten  or  twelve,  through  the 
public  squares.  They  went  to  the  rector,  and  reproached  him 
with  his  most  secret  actions.  It  is  also  asserted  that  they  dis- 
covered several  plots  against  the  Protestants.* 

The  faculty  of  prophesying,  foretelling  the  future,  and  speak- 
ing foreign  languages,  which  appeared  really  to  exist  in  this 
epidemic,  and  in  that  of  the  Cevennes,  was  probably  due  to  an 
exalted  state  of  the  mind,  favored  by  persecution,  and  the  spirit 
of  imitation.  This  state  does  not  argue  any  other  development 
of  mind  than  that  observable  in  the  preaching  disease  of 
Sweden,  of  which  we  shall  shortly  speak;  and  in  carefully 
examining  the  individuals  so  attacked,  we  shall  probably  find 
that  they  were  only  verifying  reminiscences  of  things,  seen  or 
heard,  wrought  out  by  cerebral  excitation. 

Ecstasy  may  be  seen  under  several  aspects,  with  which  it 
is  necessary  to  be  acquainted.  One  of  the  most  remarkable  of 
these  forms  is  catalepsy,  which  gave  rise  to  an  opinion  amongst 
those  who  had  not  carefully  studied  this  nervous  affection,  that 
visions  are  not  uncommonly  produced  in  this  state. 

The  greater  number  of  persons  who  have  experienced  cata- 
leptic ecstasies,  have,  when  the  fit  is  over,  described  the  inef- 
fable joy  they  felt,  the  dreadful  phantoms  they  saw,  the  divine 
visions  and  the  angelic  assemblages  which  they  witnessed. 
Many  undertake  to  predict  the  future,  and  to  imitate  sooth- 
sayers. Many  remarkable  cases  of  this  kind  may  be  met  with 
in  the  writings  of  the  doctors. f 

*  Van  Dale,  De  I'ldolatriae,  Prsef.  pp.  18  and  19. 

t  Conf.  Paulinus,  cent.  iv.  obs.  38  ;  Marcellus  Donatus,  cap.  i.  p.  91, 
scçg.  ;  Augustinus,  de  Civitate  Dei,  lib.  xiv.  cap.  xxiii.  ;  Act.  Medic.  Berol. 
Dec.  I.  vol.  ii.  p.  62;  A,  N.  C.  Dec.  III.  anno  3,  obs.  61,  and  vol.  i.  obs. 
250,  p.  563. 


218  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

Case  XCVII.  An  uneducated  woman  in  low  life,  aged  twenty- 
four  years,  went  sometimes  to  church,  and  always  listened  with 
most  attention  to  the  Holy  Word  Avhen  it  revealed  our  true  con- 
dition, and  spoke  of  the  horrors  of  sin.  Absorbed  in  these 
meditations,  her  mind  was  impressed  with  extreme  anguish,  and 
her  countenance  exhibited  all  the  grief  with  which  she  was  pe- 
netrated. One  day,  whilst  attending  service,  she  was  suddenly 
deprived  almost  entirely  of  motion  and  feeling,  and  at  the  close 
of  her  duties,  was  found  motionless  as  a  statue,  her  eyes  open, 
gazing  upward,  and  completely  insensible.  Without  aid,  her 
senses  returned  in  the  course  of  an  hour.  To  the  questions  put 
to  her,  she  replied  that  she  had  neither  felt,  nor  heard  anything, 
and  that  she  was  quite  well  during  this  state,  which  she  com- 
pared to  a  deep  sleep  ;  she  had  seen  her  Saviour,  and  felt  de- 
lightful sensations.  This  fit  was  repeated  more  than  one  hun- 
dred times  in  forty  days.  Sometimes  it  was  lighter,  and  of 
shorter  duration  than  at  others  ;  but  in  no  case  was  the  patient 
affected  by  the  strongest  volatile  essences  applied  to  the  eyes 
and  nostrils;  and  she  was  equally  insensible  to  frictions  and 
punctures. 

During  the  fit,  her  pulse,  her  respiration  and  complexion 
were  in  a  normal  state  ;  and  immediately  after  it,  she  was  able 
to  resume  her  usual  occupations.  All  her  physical  functions 
were  healthy.  During  fourteen  days  she  abstained  from  food 
and  drink.  It  is  a  remarkable  circumstance  that  the  paroxysms 
always  came  on  after  she  had  listened  to  singing,  or  to  the 
preaching  of  the  gospel,  when  she  expressed  an  ardent  love 
for  Christ.  This  malady  having  resisted  all  other  means,  was 
cured  by  air  and  exercise.* 

The  case  reported  by  Hofi"mann  does  not  belong  to  catalepsy, 
but  to  ecstasy.  In  catalepsy,  the  mind  nearly  always  remains 
in  complete  and  absolute  repose. 

Eestacy  is  often  combined  ivith  Hysteria. — Zimmermanf  speaks 
of  a  lady,  gifted  with  much  tenderness  and  sensibility,  who,  in 
her  youth,  had  been  subject  to  hysterics.  Sometimes  she  would 
break  off  a  conversation,  feeling  herself  in  a  divine  embrace. 
It  has  long  been  remarked  that  hysterical  females  have  visions 
and  hallucinations  which  resemble  ecstasies. 

*  Frederic!  Hoffmanni,  Opera  Medica,  torn.  ill.  sect.  i.  cap.  iv.  p.  50. 
t  Traité  de  FExperience. 


HALLUCINATIONS  IN  ECSTASY,  MAGNETISM,  SOMNAMBULISM.      219 

The  following  account,  communicated  by  Doctor  Sanderet, 
Professor  in  the  Medical  College  of  Besançon,  shows  the  con- 
nection that  exists  between  these  two  nervous  conditions: — 

Case  XCVIII.  In  the  village  of  Voray  (Haute  Saône),  twelve 
or  thirteen  kilomètres  from  Besançon,  lived  Alexandrine  Lanois, 
a  girl  seventeen  years  of  age,  simple  in  manners  and  appear- 
ance, and  who,  until  the  occurrence  of  the  circumstances  which 
I  am  about  to  relate,  had  attracted  no  attention.  She  was  the 
daughter  of  poor  parents,  lived  by  the  labor  of  her  hands,  and 
assisted  her  mother  in  household  duties.  In  a  word,  as  the  cure 
expressed  it,  she  was  insignificant. 

In  the  month  of  February,  1850,  this  young  girl  had  an  at- 
tack of  pleurisy  in  the  left  side.  Treated  and  cured,  she  expe- 
rienced, towards  the  close  of  the  same  month,  a  relapse,  which 
called  for  fresh  care.  This  was  followed  by  an  attack  of  fever  ; 
first  intermittent,  then  quotidian,  then  tertian  ;  which  yielded, 
after  fifteen  days,  to  sulphate  of  quinine. 

This  sickness  had  entirely  passed  away,  when,  at  the  beginning 
of  June,  she  had  a  nervous  attack,  with  hysterical  symptoms, 
crises  which  were  repeated  twenty  or  thirty  times  during  the 
day,  lasting  only  a  few  minutes. 

At  the  end  of  July,  her  ecstasies  commenced.  I  will  describe 
one  of  these,  during  which  I  watched  her.  I  mention  only  the 
essential  facts.  Every  paroxysm  was  regularly  periodical;  she 
slept  for  twelve  hours,  and  then  remained  awake  twenty-four. 
All  the  preventives  prescribed  by  her  medical  attendant,  such 
as  motion,  employment  of  the  mind,  muscular  exertion,  and 
repose,  were  useless;  they  came  on  and  ended  at  the  regular 
periods.  At  length,  she  herself  would  announce  their  approach. 
'■'■  I  am  going  ;''  and,  on  coming  to  herself,  she  would  say  that 
she  had  been  to  paradise.  She  would  then  recite  prayers,  and 
sing  psalms. 

Cold  baths  were  employed,  and  in  twelve  days  the  paroxysms 
ceased.  The  preceding  details  were  supplied  to  me  by  M.  Jen- 
nin,  Jr.,  a  very  intelligent  physician,  living  in  the  village  of 
Voray,  who  had  attended  Alexandrine  Lanois  from  the  com- 
mencement. 

Six  months  afterwards,  in  the  month  of  October,  the  attacks 
reappeared,  but  their  order  was  inverted;  the  paroxysms  lasted 
twenty-four,  the  waking  state  only  twelve  hours.    It  was  at  this 


220  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

time  that,  in  passing  through  the  village,  I  was  taken  by  a  pious 
lady  to  see  the  miraculous  girl.  It  was  nearly  four  in  the 
afternoon  ;  I  was  told  that  I  must  hurry,  if  I  wished  to  see  her 
awake,  as  the  paroxysms  came  on  at  four  o'clock.  I  therefore 
hastened,  and  entered  a  narrow  and  dark  room,  crowded  with 
curious  people,  who  informed  me  that  she  had  just  fallen  into 
the  ecstatic  sleep.  I  looked  at  my  watch,  and  found  it  was  two 
minutes  after  four. 

She  was  stretched  on  a  bed,  the  countenance  perfectly  calm, 
the  eyes  closed,  the  eyelids  moving  incessantly,  the  limbs  supple, 
and  falling  gently  and  without  effort  when  they  were  moved, 
the  breathing  equal  and  regular,  the  pulse  quick. 

Her  hands  were  almost  joined  on  her  breast.  After  some 
minutes,  she  commenced  rubbing  them  slowly  and  gently.  "  She 
is  going  to  sing,"  said  her  mother  to  me;  and,  in  fact,  she  be- 
gan a  song,  in  a  full  and  vibrating  voice,  but  which,  neverthe- 
less, Avas  not  her  own  ;  and  although  she  sang  with  the  accent 
peculiar  to  the  village,  yet  her  singing  was  undeniably  marked 
by  a  strong  musical  sentiment.  On  raising  her  eyelid,  I  per- 
ceived the  eye  rapidly  moving  from  the  light  ;  these  repeated 
experiments  brought  tears  to  the  outer  corner  of  the  left  eye. 
At  this  time  I  pinched  her  severely,  she  did  not  appear  to  feel 
it;  I  drove  a  large  pin  into  her  hand,  the  result  was  similar; 
her  insensibility  was  complete. 

After  a  few  minutes  had  passed,  some  movements  of  the  pa- 
tient were  observed,  the  object  of  which  was  evidently  to  throw 
off  the  coverings  to  the  foot  of  the  bed.  "  She  is  going  to  rise," 
said  her  mother,  and,  in  fact,  with  a  strength  full  of  suppleness, 
even  of  grace,  she  arose,  without  the  aid  of  her  hands.  She  first 
sat  down  ;  then,  without  deranging  a  single  fold  of  her  white 
skirt,  she  stood  up  in  the  kind  of  niche  or  frame  formed  by  her 
curtains.  Her  head  was  slightly  inclined  to  the  left,  and  leaned 
forward  ;  her  arms  hung  down  at  a  short  distance  from  her  body; 
the  hands  were  reversed,  the  palms  turned  outwards;  the  left  limb 
was  somewhat  inflexed,  and  the  lower  part  of  the  body  slightly 
inclined. 

In  fact,  she  presented  very  faithfully  the  attitude  of  an 
image  or  statue  of  the  Immaculate  Conception,  which  was  very 
common  throughout  our  country,  and  being  classic,  was,  I  be- 
lieve, known  everywhere.     I  cannot  give  a  more  precise  idea  of 


HALLUCINATIONS  IN  ECSTASY,  MAGNETISM,  SOMNAMBULISM.      221 

her  appearance  than  by  calling  to  mind  this  figure.  Alexan- 
drine then  repeated  some  prayers  ;  but,  contrary  to  her  style  of 
singing,  her  words  were  rapid  and  confused,  and  I  could  not 
understand  what  she  said. 

Several  times,  and  successively,  I  raised  her  arms  to  a  right 
angle;  they  descended  slowly,  and,  by  an  equal  continuous 
movement,  more  precise  than  if  her  will  had  guided  them,  her 
hands  recovered  their  position.  I  also  endeavored  to  draw  the 
forearm  close  to  the  body,  and  to  incline  the  hand  inward  ;  the 
form  of  the  statue  was  always  resumed.  Finally,  she  stretched 
herself  on  her  bed,  and  became  again  immovable. 

The  patient  appeared  fatigued  with  the  diverse  trials  to  which 
I  subjected  her;  her  forehead  was  covered  with  perspiration, 
and  her  mother  was  surprised,  as  though  it  were  a  novel  circum- 
stance, at  the  expression  of  suflfering  her  countenance  exhibited. 
I  thus  passed  an  hour  with  Alexandrine.  Her  mother,  who  ap- 
peared to  care  little  for  the  miracle,  as  she  wanted  the  assistance 
of  her  daughter,  who  was  the  eldest  of  seven  children,  begged 
me  to  try  and  cure  her.  But  the  patient  had  announced,  several 
days  previously,  that  her  paroxysms  would  cease  on  Saturday. 
(I  saw  her  on  Thursday.)  I  therefore  refused  to  interfere; 
promising,  however,  my  advice,  in  case  the  attacks  should  con- 
tinue after  the  time  fixed  for  their  termination. 

On  Sunday  I  returned  to  Voray,  led  on  by  a  feeling  of  curi- 
osity which  every  one  can  understand.  The  ecstasies  were  over. 
Alexandrine  was  awake.  She  told  me  that  they  would  not 
return  for  some  time,  but  did  not  indicate  the  period  of  their 
return.  I  questioned  her  in  relation  to  her  journeys  to  heaven; 
asked  her  what  she  had  seen,  etc.  She  answered  that  she  had 
seen  the  good  God,  who  was  all  white;  that  she  had  seen  angels, 
etc.  ;  and  that  heaven  was  all  gold  and  silver.  This  description 
did  little  honor  to  her  imagination.  In  fact,  when  awake,  this 
girl  was  simple,  gentle,  timid,  narrow-minded,  and  consequently 
free  from  artifice. 

I  promised  to  use  all  my  efforts  to  restore  her,  if  she  were 
again  attacked;  she  received  my  promise  as  though  she  would 
rejoice  in  my  success,  and  said  that  I  should  have  notice. 

On  Thursday,  the  26th  of  December,  the  physician  of  Voray 
wrote:  "  Our  young  ecstatic  desires  me  to  inform  you  that  her 
paroxysms  will  recommence  on  Monday  ;  a  voice  has  just  an- 


222  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

nounced  it  to  her."     And   on  the  very  day,  at  eight  in  the 
mornino:,  the  ecstasies  recommenced. 

A  more  astounding  fact  than  all,  and  which,  as  a  faithful 
historian,  I  feel  bound  to  relate,  had  renewed  and  increased  a 
general  belief  in  the  miracle.  Its  only  interest  to  us  consists 
in  the  precision  with  which  the  return  of  the  paroxysms  was 
announced. 

One  day,  then,  during  the  week,  Alexandrine,  sorrowful,  ab- 
stracted, and  oppressed  with  a  vague  feeling  of  distress,  and  a 
desire  to  weep,  went  for  relief  to  one  of  her  companions,  who 
lived  at  the  parsonage.  She  was  walking  with  her  head  bent 
down,  when  she  saw  before  her  a  lady  habited  in  white,  whom 
she  at  first  supposed  to  be  an  inhabitant  of  this  world  ;  but,  on 
raising  her  eyes,  she  recognized  her  as  the  Virgin,  by  the  crown 
on  her  brow.  The  Virgin  held  a  prolonged  conversation  with 
her,  announced  the  return  of  her  ecstasies,  which,  she  said, 
would  continue  longer  than  on  previous  occasions,  and  then, 
dropping  a  chaplet  at  her  feet,  slowly  vanished. 

Alexandrine  entered  the  minister's  house  in  tears,  and  an  ac- 
count of  her  extraordinary  adventure  was  extorted  from  her;  in 
verification  of  which,  the  chaplet  was  found  before  the  door — a 
chaplet  worth  two  sous. 

Thus  the  phenomena  have  increased  from  the  commencement, 
each  circumstance  becoming  more  difiBcult  of  comprehension  un- 
til the  last,  of  which  the  reader  will  readily  see  the  significance 
and  bearing,  by  calling  to  mind  the  fact  that  our  young  girl 
is  the  object  of  a  curiosity  which  has,  beyond  measure,  daily 
increased. 

On  the  5th  of  January,  my  worthy  brother  and  friend.  Dr. 
Druhen,  accompanied  me  to  Voray.  He  found  the  facts  pre- 
cisely as  I  had  related  them.  In  order  to  satisfy  himself  in 
relation  to  several  phenomena  by  personal  observation,  he  re- 
peated my  experiments,  and  completed  them,  by  adding,  for 
example,  a  vial  of  ammonia,  which,  placed  carelessly  to  her 
nose,  produced  no  effect.  He  even  magnetized  the  patient,  and 
questioned  her,  but  in  vain.  The  pulse  was  112,  the  breathing 
22.  The  paroxysms,  always  perfectly  periodical,  lasted  thirty-six 
hours,  as  the  white  lady  had  predicted,  and  the  waking  state 
twenty-four.  While  the  ecstasy  continued  (and  it  was  thus 
throughout),  all  the  natural  functions  of  the  body  were  sus- 


HALLUCINATIONS  IN  ECSTASY,  MAGNETISM,  SOMNAMBULISM.      223 

pended.     During  the  intervals  she  enjoyed  her  usual  excellent 
health,  with  appetite  and  alimentation  unimpaired. 

The  regularity  of  the  paroxysms  required  the  medication  to 
be  anti-periodical,  which  plan  we  advised,  to  the  exclusion  of 
all  others. 

I  have  simply  given  the  case.  The  therapeutic  point  here 
offers  only  a  secondary  interest,  and  it  is  not  as  an  example  for 
practice  that  one  can  contemplate  so  exceptionable  a  case;  but 
it  is  merely  stated  as  a  case.  New  phases  may  arise,  and  I  may 
be  enabled  to  complete  my  observations. 

P.  S.  This  morning  I  received  the  following  letter  from  my 
colleague  at  Voray:  — 

"I  myself  administered  the  sulphate  of  quinine  to  the  girl 
Lanois.  On  the  6th  of  January,  in  the  morning,  0.75  centi- 
grammes divided  into  two  doses,  were  injected  ;  in  the  evening  of 
the  same  day,  at  eight,  the  paroxysms  came  on,  and  lasted  thirty- 
six  hours,  as  before.  At  eight  in  the  evening,  before  the  anti- 
cipated return  of  another  attack,  I  gave  the  sulphate,  as  before, 
in  two  doses.  On  the  following  morning,  another  paroxysm  and 
menstruation.  Finally,  on  the  11th,  at  half-past  seven,  in  the 
morning,  I  again  administered  7.5  centigrammes,  and,  at  eight, 
our  ecstatic  subject  departed  for  unknown  worlds.  Résultat 
0."* 

The  ecstatic  of  the  Vosges,  we  saw  in  company  with  Messrs. 
Duchenne  of  Boulogne,  Bouchut,  and  Brown-Séquard.  The  two 
last-mentioned  physicians,  who,  by  a  powerful  electric  shock, 
proved  insensibility,  and,  consequently,  a  diseased  condition, 
have  both  presented  particulars  of  their  conjectures  relative  to 
the  paroxysms,  and  the  phenomenon  of  hallucinations.  During 
her  attacks,  we  have  heard  her  converse  with  angels,  and  the  Vir- 
gin, as  if  in  their  presence.  The  harmonious  tones  of  her  voice, 
the  expression  of  her  features,  and  the  air  of  beatitude  which  her 
countenance  displayed,  were  indescribable.  Whether  she  ex- 
pressed herself  in  verse  or  in  prose,  her  discourse  was  entirely 
upon  religious  subjects.  The  account  describes  her  as  often- 
times transported  to  heaven,  and,  as  having  seen,  in  her  ecsta- 
sies her  father  and  her  brother,  who  have  been  dead  for  many 
years.     This  young  girl  is  aged  twenty,  and  very  pretty,  and 

*  Annales  Médico-psychologiques,  Avril,  1851. 


224  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

there  is  something  in  her  whole  appearance  calculated  to  excite 
the  liveliest  interest  in  her.  We  much  regret  that  our  proposal 
to  receive  herself  and  her  mother  into  our  establishment,  was 
rejected.  Both  Truth  and  Science  would  have  profited  by  the 
acceptance  of  our  offer. 

Mystic  ecstasy  occurs  chiefly  in  subjects  of  great  fervor,  and 
who  are  addicted  to  fasting  and  prayer.  It  also  occurs  in  those 
accustomed  to  deprive  themselves  of  sleep,  and  who  live  an 
ascetic  and  contemplative  life.  It  is,  in  a  certain  degree,  pos- 
sible, by  carrying  these  practices  to  an  extravagant  pitch,  to 
bring  on  ecstasy. 

Case  XCIX.  Jeanne  de  Rochet,  a  young  lady  of  the  court 
of  Louis  the  Fourteenth,  who  retired  into  solitude,  in  order, 
through  the  means  of  extreme  privation,  to  reach  perfection,  has 
related,  in  a  work  of  three  volumes,  the  history  of  her  long 
martyrdom.  "I  eat,"  she  says,  "but  once  in  the  day,  and  sleep 
only  four  hours.  At  the  foot  of  the  crucifix,  I  hear  all  that  my 
Saviour  is  pleased  to  communicate.  My  mental  labors  (prayers 
and  ejaculations)  continue  sometimes  for  forty-eight  hours, 
during  which  time  I  neither  eat  nor  drink.  The  devil  then 
combats  me  in  every  way,  and  shows  me  horrible  spectres.  I 
have  passed  whole  months  without  closing  my  eyes.  I  killed  my 
body,  in  order  to  raise  my  spirit  to  God.  For  more  than  fifteen 
days  I  have  wandered  the  forest  like  a  mad  person,  without 
repeating  a  prayer." 

"On  Palm-Sunday,  whilst  undergoing  the  discipline  of  fire,  I 
saw  a  very  hideous  man,  who  appeared  similarly  engaged  ;  and 
at  every  stroke  that  he  gave,  he  uttered  a  piercing  cry,  and 
each  time  said  :  '  It  is  for  such  a  sin.' 

"  Occasionally  I  experienced  great  ravishment,  but  more  fre- 
quently I  was  tempted  by  the  devil." 

One  of  the  most  extraordinary  instances  of  ecstasy  that  has 
ever  been  witnessed,  has  been  related  by  writers  worthy  of  cre- 
dence, Professors  Goerres,  Leon  Bore,  Edmund  Cazales,  Cerise, 
etc.,  known  by  the  appellation  of  "The  Scarred  Maiden  of 
Tyrol."* 

*  Les  Stigmatisées  du  Tyrol,  ou  l'Extatique  de  Kaldern,  et  la  Patiente 
de  Capriaua;  histories  translated  from  the  Italian,  German,  and  English, 
by  M.  Léon  Bore,  Paris,  1843;  and  reproduced,  by  Dr.  Cerise,  in  his  In- 
troduction to  the  new  edition  of  Système  Physique  et  Morale  de  la  Femme, 


HALLUCINATIONS  IN  ECSTASY,  MAGNETISM,  SOMNAMBULISM.      225 

Case  C.  Marie  de  Mœrl  was  born  the  16th  of  October,  1812, 
of  a  noble  but  reduced  family.  In  her  infancy,  she  was  subject 
to  many  severe  nervous  affections.  At  twenty,  in  1832,  her 
confessor  noticed  that  sometimes  she  did  not  answer  his  ques- 
tions, and  that  she  appeared  abstracted.  The  attendants  of  the 
young  girl  informed  him  that  she  was  always  affected  in  this 
manner  when  she  received  the  communion.  He  promised  to 
watch  her  closely.  On  the  day  of  the  Fête  Dieu,  he  carried  the 
Host  to  her  early  in  the  morning.  She  was  instantly  transported 
into  an  ecstasy.  The  next  day,  at  three  in  the  afternoon,  he 
went  to  see  her,  and  found  her  kneeling  in  the  same  spot  where 
he  had  left  her  thirty-six  hours  previously.  The  persons  about 
her,  already  accustomed  to  the  sight,  attested  that  she  had  re- 
mained in  that  position.  The  confessor  undertook  to  prevent 
the  recurrence  of  this  state,  which,  he  feared,  might  become  ha- 
bitual. To  this  end  he  inculcated  the  virtue  of  an  obedience,  which 
the  young  girl  had  vowed  on  entering  the  third  order  of  Saint 
François.  The  ecstasies  recurred,  however,  accompanied  with 
phenomena  more  or  less  extraordinary,  until  towards  the  middle 
of  the  year  1833.  At  this  time,  a  crowd  of  the  curious,  attracted 
by  the  voice  of  rumor,  visited  the  ecstatic.  It  is  calculated  that 
40,000  persons  visited  Kaldern,  between  the  months  of  July  and 
September.  Marie  remained  all  this  time  in  an  ecstasy.  The 
visits  were  forbidden  by  the  authorities.  The  Prince  Bishop  of 
Trente,  desirous  of  knowing  the  truth,  that  he  might  communi- 
cate it  to  the  government,  came  to  the  place.  He  declared  that 
the  malady  of  Marie  did  not  in  itself  constitute  a  state  of  sanc- 
tity, but  that  her  acknowledged  piety  w^as  not  a  malady.  The 
police,  after  this  prudent  declaration,  interfered  no  more.  In 
the  autumn  of  the  same  year,  her  confessor  perceived  that  the 
palms  of  the  hands,  where  subsequently  the  marks  of  crucifixion 
appeared,  sank  in,  as  under  the  pressure  of  a  body  in  half-relief. 
At  the  same  time  the  part  became  painful,  and  frequently 
cramped.  On  the  2d  of  February,  1834,  at  the  feast  of  the  Puri- 
fication, he  observed  her  wipe  the  middle  of  her  hands  with  a 
towel,  and  exhibit  a  childlike  alarm  at  the  blood  she  perceived 

par  Roussel,  Paris,  1845.  This  learned  doctor  has  prefixed  and  appended 
to  these  curious  cases,  Interesting  Reflections  on  tlie  Influence  of  Emotivity 
in  Women. 

15 


226  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

there.  These  marks  soon  showed  themselves  on  her  feet  and  on 
her  heart.  They  were  nearly  round,  spreading  a  little  in  length, 
three  or  four  lines  in  diameter,  and  seeming  to  pass  through  both 
hands  and  both  feet.  On  Thursday  night  and  Friday,  all  these 
wounds  shed  drops  of  blood,  ordinarily  clear.  On  other  evenings, 
they  were  covered  with  a  crust  of  dried  blood.  Marie  maintained 
the  most  profound  silence  on  these  wonderful  facts  ;  but,  in  1834, 
the  day  of  the  visitation,  the  ecstasy  came  on  during  a  proces- 
sion, and  surprised  her  in  the  presence  of  witnesses;  she  was 
seen  twice  absorbed  in  the  most  lively  joy,  her  countenance 
flushed  with  a  rose-like  hue,  and  radiant  with  an  angelic  expres- 
sion. She  scarcely  touched  the  bed  with  the  point  of  her  feet  ; 
her  arms  were  extended,  and  all  the  attendants  marked  the 
prints  on  her  hands.  From  that  period  this  wonderful  peculiarity 
could  no  longer  remain  a  secret. 

"  The  first  time  that  I  visited  her,"  says  the  celebrated  Dr. 
Goerres,  "I  found  her  in  the  position  in  which  she  remains 
during  the  greater  part  of  the  day,  on  her  knees,  at  the  foot  of 
the  bed,  in  ecstasy  ;  her  hands  were  crossed  on  her  breast,  and 
showed  the  prints  ;  her  face  was  turned  a  little  upward,  and 
towards  the  church;  her  eyes  were  raised  to  heaven,  expressing 
the  most  profound  abstraction,  which  nothing  external  could 
disturb.  During  whole  hours,  I  was  unable  to  detect  any  mo- 
tion in  her  body,  excepting  that  produced  by  an  almost  insen- 
sible respiration  or  a  slight  oscillation,  and  I  can  only  com- 
pare her  attitude  to  that  in  which  angels  are  represented  before 
the  throne  of  God,  absorbed  in  the  contemplation  of  his  glory. 
It  will  readily  be  imagined  that  this  spectacle  most  vividly 
impressed  the  minds  of  all  who  witnessed  it.  According  to  the 
report  of  the  curé,  and  other  directors  of  her  conscience,  she 
has  been  in  a  constant  ecstasy  for  four  years.  Most  generally, 
the  subject  of  meditation  in  the  ecstatic  is  the  passion  of  our 
Saviour,  which  produces  on  her  the  most  profound  impression, 
and  is  exhibited  externally.  Every  Friday  in  the  year,  the 
contemplation  of  this  mystery  is  renewed,  and  thus  affords  the 
opportunity  of  frequently  watching  its  marvellous  effects.  The 
action  commences  on  Friday  morning.  If  the  facts  are  followed 
up,  it  is  observable  that  as  certain  persons  speak  their  thoughts 
aloud,  without  being  conscious  of  the  words  they  are  uttering, 
so  Marie  de  Mocrl  reproduces  the  passion  by  meditation  without 
knowing  what  she  does.     At  first,  the  movements  are  soft  and 


HALLUCINATIONS  IN  ECSTASY,  MAGNETISM,  SOMNAMBULISM.      227 

regular  ;  but  in  proportion  as  the  action  becomes  more  distress- 
ing and  powerful,  the  image  which  she  assumes  takes  a  deeper 
and  more  distinct  character.  Finally,  when  the  last  hour 
approaches,  and  her  heart  is  lacerated  by  grief,  death  is 
imaged  on  every  feature.  She  is  there  on  her  knees,  her  hands 
crossed  on  her  breast.  A  mournful  silence  reigns  around, 
scarcely  disturbed  by  the  breathing  of  the  attendants.  Pale  as 
her  countenance  may  have  appeared  during  this  sorrowful  drama, 
you  observe  her  grow  still  paler  ;  the  shudder  of  death  occurs 
more  frequently,  and  life  is  gradually  departing. 

"  Sighs,  breathed  with  difficulty,  announce  that  the  oppression 
augments.  Her  eyes,  more  and  more  fixed  and  immovable,  shed 
large  drops  of  tears  that  fall  slowly  down  her  cheeks.  Nervous 
spasms  occur  ;  involuntarily  she  opens  her  mouth;  like  a  thunder- 
cloud presaging  a  storm,  these  spasms  form  larger  and  larger 
circles,  until  her  whole  countenance  is  distorted,  and  they  finally 
become  so  violent  that,  from  time  to  time,  they  shake  her  whole 
frame.  Respiration,  already  so  difficult,  is  changed  into  painful 
and  plaintive  sighs  ;  a  dull  redness  covers  her  cheeks  ;  the 
swollen  tongue  seems  to  cleave  to  the  palate  ;  the  convulsions 
become  quicker  and  stronger  ;  the  hands,  hitherto  crossed,  give 
way,  and  fall  rapidly  ;  the  nails  assume  a  blue  tinge,  and  the 
fingers  are  convulsively  interlocked. 

"Presently,  the  rattle  is  heard  in  the  throat.  The  breath 
comes  with  more  effort  from  the  breast,  which  seems  bound  with 
thongs  of  iron  ;  the  features  are  so  distorted  as  to  be  scarcely 
recognized  ;  the  mouth  is  wide  open,  the  nose  shrunken,  the 
eyes  are  fixed,  and  seem  ready  to  burst  their  orbits.  At  long 
intervals,  some  sighs  escape  through  the  stiffening  organs; 
and  it  would  seem  that  the  last  must  soon  be  uttered.  The 
head  then  bows  with  every  sign  of  death  ;  and  the  whole 
appearance  is  totally  unlike  herself.  All  remains  thus  for  the 
space  of  about  a  minute  and  a  half.  Then  the  head  is  raised, 
the  hands  return  to  the  breast,  the  countenance  recovers  its 
form  and  calm  expression  ;  she  is  on  her  knees,  absorbed  in 
offering  her  thanksgiving  to  God.  And  this  scene  is  renewed 
weekly,  always  the  same  in  its  essential  phases,  but  more  par- 
ticularized in  Holy  Week,  and  each  time  showing  the  peculiar 
traits  corresponding  to  the  actual  state  of  mind  of  the  patient. 
I  convinced  myself  of  this  by  a  careful  examination  on  several 


228  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

occasions  ;  for  there  is  nothing  studied,  nothing  false,  nothing 
exaggerated,  in  all  this  marvellous  representation,  which  flows 
like  an  equal  stream  ;  and  if  Marie  de  Mœrl  actually  died,  her 
death  could  not  appear  more  real. 

"  Howsoever  absorbed  in  her  contemplations  the  ecstatic  may 
be,  a  single  word  from  her  confessor,  or  any  person  in  spiritual 
connection  with  her,  is  sufficient  to  recall  her  to  real  life,  without 
passing  through  any  intermediate  state.  One  instant  suffices 
for  her  to  recover,  and  she  opens  her  eyes  as  though  she  had 
not  been  in  ecstasy.  The  expression  of  her  countenance  in- 
stantly changes  ;  it  resembles  that  of  a  lively  child,  who  has 
preserved  its  simplicity  and  candor.  The  first  thing  she  does 
on  coming  to  herself,  is  to  hide  her  marked  hands  beneath  the 
bedclothes,  like  a  child  that  has  inked  its  sleeves  and  hears  the 
footsteps  of  its  mother.  Then,  being  so  accustomed  to  a  con- 
course of  strangers,  she  looks  around  and  gives  to  each  a  friendly 
greeting-  She  exhibits  great  uneasiness  when  the  emotions  of 
those  by  Avhom  she  is  surrounded,  and  which  arise  from  witness- 
ing her  apparent  sufferings,  are  too  visible.  When  they  are  im- 
pressed with  a  feeling  of  veneration  and  solemnity,  she  endeavors, 
with  a  charming  liveliness  of  manner,  to  efface  the  feeling.  As 
she  has  long  kept  entire  silence,  she  tries  to  make  herself  under- 
stood by  signs  ;  and  when  that  fails,  like  a  child  who  cannot  yet 
speak,  she  looks  to  her  confessor,  and,  with  her  eyes,  begs  him 
to  answer  for  her. 

"  Her  black  eyes  express  the  joy  and  ingenuousness  of  child- 
hood. Her  clear  and  expressive  countenance  at  once  forbids 
'  the  idea  that  her  heart  can  be  the  chamber  of  fraud  or  hypo- 
crisy. There  is  no  appearance  of  gloom  or  of  exaltation  ;  no 
weak  nor  false  sentimentality  ;  and  still  less  of  hypocrisy  and 
pride.  Her  whole  appearance  conveys  the  impression  of  a 
serene  and  joyous  childhood  preserved  in  innocence,  easily 
yielding  to  playfulness,  because  the  pure  and  delicate  tact  which 
she  possesses  rejects  all  that  might  be  unseemly.  When  with 
her  friends,  she  can,  once  restored  to  herself,  remain  so  for  some 
time  ;  but  it  is  evident  that  it  is  with  a  great  effort,  for  the 
ecstasy  has  become  her  second  nature,  and  the  life  of  others 
is,  to  her,  something  artificial  and  unusual. 

"  In  the  midst  of  a  conversation,  in  which  she  even  appears 
to  take  pleasure,  her  eyes  suddenly  close,  and   without   any 


HALLUCINATIONS  IN  ECSTASY,  MAGNETISM,  SOMNAMBULISM.      229 

transition,  she  returns  into  her  ecstasy.  During  my  stay  at  Kal- 
dern,  she  was  requested  to  be  godmother  to  a  new-born  child, 
who  was  baptized  in  her  chamber.  She  took  it  in  her  arms, 
and  manifested  the  greatest  interest  in  the  whole  ceremony;  but 
several  times  she  fell  back  into  ecstasy,  and  it  was  necessary  to 
recall  her  to  the  reality  of  what  was  going  on  around  her. 

"  The  beholder  is  astonished  at  seeing  Marie  de  Moerl  pass 
from  common  to  ecstatic  life;  lying  on  her  back,  she  seems  to 
float  on  the  waves  of  a  luminous  tide,  and  to  throw  a  joyous  look 
on  all  around.  Suddenly  she  plunges  gently  into  the  abyss  ;  the 
waves  play  for  an  instant  around  her,  they  then  cover  her  face, 
and  you  follow  her  with  your  eyes  as  she  descends  into  the 
depths  of  the  pellucid  waters.  From  that  moment,  the  lively 
child  has  disappeared,  and  when  in  the  midst  of  her  transfigured 
features,  her  dark  eyes  are  opened  to  their  full  extent,  and  dart- 
ing their  rays  into  vacancy,  she  looks  a  very  sibyl,  but  full  of 
nobleness  and  pathetic  dignity. 

"  It  must  not,  however,  be  supposed  that  her  contemplations 
and  pious  exercises  prevent  her  attending  to  domestic  duties. 
From  her  bed  she  directs  the  household,  the  cares  of  which  she 
formerly  shared  with  a  sister,  but  whom  death  has  removed. 
She  has  enjoyed  for  several  years  a  pension  obtained  for  her  by 
charitable  persons  ;  and  as  her  wants  are  few,  she  devotes  it  to 
the  education  of  her  brothers  and  sisters.  Daily,  about  two  in 
the  afternoon,  her  confessor  recalls  her  to  ordinary  life,  in  order 
that  she  may  attend  to  the  affairs  of  the  house.  They  then 
confer  together  on  the  subject  ;  she  thinks  of  everything,  attends 
to  the  wants  of  those  in  whom  she  is  interested,  and,  as  she  pos- 
sesses good  common  sense,  everything  about  her  is  well  regu- 
lated." 

We  will  not  give  the  recital,  by  M.  Edmond  Cazales  on 
Dominica  Lazzari,  the  Patiente  de  Capriana^  because  the  case, 
however  extraordinary,  bears  no  direct  relation  to  our  subject. 

Great  joy,  like  great  grief,  is  equally  favorable  to  ecstasy,  by 
the  elevated  character  it  gives  to  thought. 

Ecstasy  is  not  uncommon  in  insane  asylums  ;  but  to  shun  error, 
it  is  necessary  to  notice  whether  the  patient  is  not  obeying  some 
superior  order,  which  tells  him  to  remain  motionless,  or  to  take 
such  or  such  a  position.  It  may  be  exhibited  under  the  forms 
of  mania  and  monomania. 


230  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

Leuret  has  described  the  case  of  an  hallucinated  mad  woman, 
who  had  ecstasies,  in  which  she  saw  God.  She  knelt  before  the 
sun,  and  then  experienced  a  great  inward  exaltation,  and  exceed- 
ing pleasure.  God  spoke  to  her;  the  pleasurable  sensations  were 
chiefly  confined  to  her  breast  and  stomach  ;  but  God,  she  said, 
could  excite  these  sensations  in  all  the  members.  It  was  not 
only  when  she  looked  at  the  sun  that  she  beheld  the  Creator, 
but  she  saw  him  in  her  dormitory  and  in  her  walks.  To  behold 
him,  she  had  but  to  pray.  She  saw  him  also  during  her  sleep, 
and  even  before  going  to  sleep.  He  appeared  to  her  as  possess- 
ing a  physical  form  ;  fair,  and  clothed  in  the  habiliments  of  man  ; 
infinite  goodness  and  benevolence  beamed  upon  his  smiling  face. 
In  speaking  of  her  sensations,  she  observed  that  bread  and 
water,  and  that  exaltation,  was  the  highest  pleasure  that  could 
be  experienced;  and  if  all  could  be  satisfied  of  this  truth,  they 
would  require  nothing  more. 

As  ecstasy  can  be  produced  whenever  a  high  degree  of  moral 
exaltation  exists,  it  will  be  understood  that  it  did  not  cease  its 
manifestations  with  the  Dark  Ages,  although  these  were  favor- 
able to  it.  We  find  it  existing  in  the  eighteenth  century,  and 
daily  produced  before  our  eyes.  Lately,  the  rapid  spread  of  the 
religious  ecstasy  in  Sweden  in  the  form  of  an  epidemic,  and 
with  which  we  will  close  this  notice,  proves  the  truth  of  the 
assertion. 

In  the  course  of  the  year  1841  to  1842,  there  appeared,  in 
the  country  about  the  central  part  of  Sweden,  a  disease  charac- 
terized by  two  striking  and  remarkable  symptoms  :  the  one, 
physical,  consisted  of  a  spasmodic  attack,  involuntary  contrac- 
tions, contortions,  etc.;  the  other,  psychical,  was  announced  by 
an  ecstasy  more  or  less  involuntary,  during  which  the  patient  be- 
lieved that  he  saw  or  heard  things  divine  and  supernatural,  and 
was  instigated  to  speak,  or,  as  the  people  expressed  it,  to  preach. 
(Many  medical  men  consider  this  disease  as  one  form  of  the 
chorea  of  the  Middle  Ages.) 

During  their  ecstasies,  the  persons  attacked  were  remarkable 
for  an  irresistible  loquacity,  a  constant  mania  for  preaching  the 
Word  of  God,  and  for  visions  and  prophesying^.  In  consequence 
of  the  peculiar  tendency  of  this  singular  aflfection,  it  has  been 
called  the  preaching -disease.  Most  of  the  faculty,  who  wit- 
nessed these  paroxysms,  have  compared  them  to  somnambulism, 


HALLUCINATIONS  IN  ECSTASY,  MAGNETISM,  SOMNAMBULISM.      231 

or  the  magnetic  sleep  ;  but  no  one  has  been  able  to  say  posi- 
tively that  they  belonged  to  either  of  these  states. 

The  sick  persons  frequently  spoke  of  visions  which  they  had 
had  in  heaven  and  hell,  of  angels,  etc.  They  also  predicted  the 
end  of  the  world,  the  last  judgment,  and  the  day  of  their  own 
death,  always  with  the  assumption  that  their  predictions  were 
real  and  holy  prophecies.  It  will  be  remembered  that  the  greater 
number  of  the  convulsed  of  St.  Medard  also  predicted  that  the 
end  of  the  world  would  occur  on  a  day  which  they  fixed;  but, 
as  with  the  Swedes  and  Millenarians,  their  prophecies  were  not 
accomplished. 

These  ecstatics,  when  the  paroxysm  was  over,  appeared  as 
though  they  emerged  from  a  dream.  They  averred  that  they 
had  seen  supernatural  sights,  and  recited  the  prophecies;  that 
they  had  seen  the  place  of  punishment  for  the  condemned,  and, 
uiso,  the  elect  seated  at  the  Lord's  table. 

This  state  may  be  associated  with  mania,  with  hypochondria, 
and  with  madness.  The  malady  usually  attacked  persons  from 
sixteen  to  thirty,  frequently  also  children  from  six  to  sixteen, 
and  even  some  aged  persons.  It  is  another  point  of  resemblance 
to  the  Shakers  of  the  Cévennes  ;  and,  in  the  Théâtre  sacré  des 
Cévennes  (p.  30),  is  the  following  deposition  by  Guilliaume  Bru- 
guier:  "I  saw  at  Aubersaque  three  or  four  children  from  the  ages 
of  three  to  six,  seized  with  the  spirit.  When  I  was  with  a  man 
named  Jacques  Boussige,  one  of  his  children,  aged  three  years, 
was  attacked,  and  fell  to  the  ground;  he  was  much  agitated,  and 
beat  his  breast  violently,  saying,  it  was  for  the  sins  of  his  mother 
he  was  suffering."  Another  witness  assured  me  that  he  had 
seen  a  child  of  fifteen  months  in  a  similar  condition. 

The  greater  number  of  the  persons  so  attacked  were  of  the 
lower  class.  It  was  a  psychical  contagion,  brought  on  by  imi- 
tation.    In  one  year  several  thousand  persons  had  the  epidemic. 

A  development  of  the  intellectual  faculties  was  not  remarked 
in  this  disease  ;  or,  if  it  did  exist,  it  was  an  exception  ;  the 
greater  number  of  the  discourses  and  sermons  were  paltry  and 
void  of  ideas  ;  often  consisting  of  pure  nonsense,  more  frequently 
of  exclamations  repeated  unto  satiety,  and  continual  repetition 
of  the  same  trifles,  uttered  in  a  sententious  tone. 

We  would  enforce  this  remark,  because  the  ecstatic  state  is 


232  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

often  accompanied  by  a  sense  of  exaltation  which  gives  eloquence 
to  ordinary  minds.  On  this  point,  we  could  relate  a  curious 
history  of  a  person,  who,  in  his  inspired  moments,  exercised 
such  an  influence  over  the  malefactors  in  the  prison  with  him, 
that  they  obeyed  all  his  commands. 

Fanaticism,  ignorance,  and  the  thousands  of  religious  tracts 
distributed  amongst  the  people,  had,  according  to  the  opinion 
of  the  Swedish  faculty,  induced  a  state  of  preparation  for  this 
epidemic.  The  causes  are  clearly  pointed  out  by  the  author, 
who  says  justly,  that  the  origin  of  a  mental  disease  has  rarely 
been  so  distinctly  shown.* 

The  ecstatic  state  is  frequently  met  with  amongst  primitive 
people,  in  whom  the  religious  feeling  is  strongly  developed.  M. 
Ferdinand  Denis  relates  that  a  friend  of  his,  who  has  resided 
fourteen  years  in  the  East  Indies,  has  frequently  seen  the  Hin- 
doos voluntarily  fall  into  ecstasy.  The  North  and  South 
Americans  have  traditional  recollections  that  throw  them  into 
an  ecstatic  state,  during  which  they  believe  they  have  communion 
with  spirits. 

The  phenomena  of  ecstasy  are  developed  in  the  most  remark- 
able manner,  among  the  Kamschatdales,  the  Yakouls,  and  other 
people  who  inhabit  the  far  north,  where  the  diviners  wound 
themselves  horribly,  without  either  suffering  or  appearing  to 
suffer. 

The  ecstatic  state  is  also  exhibited  in  Otaheite,  in  the  Sand- 
wich Islands,  and  in  Polynesia.  Marinerf  relates  that  the  son 
of  King  Finow  often  told  him  that  he  was  inspired  by  the  soul 
of  Toogoo-Ahoo,  the  last  king  of  the  Tonga  Isles  ;  that  he  no 
longer  felt  his  personal  existence,  and  that  his  body  seemed 
animated  by  a  spirit  not  his  own.  Being  interrogated  as  to  the 
nature  of  the  spirit  that  moved  him,  and  how  it  descended  upon 
him,  he  replied  :  "What  a  foolish  question!  Can  I  tell  you 
how  I  know  it  ?  I  know  it  because  I  feel  the  conviction,  and 
because  I  am  warned  by  a  voice." 

We  could  multiply  facts  of  this  nature  ;  but  it  will  be  sufS- 

*  Gazette  Médicale,  No.  33,  t.  xi.  1842,  Mémoire  sur  l'Extase  religieuse 
épicUmiqrie  that  raged  in  Sweden  in  1841  and  1842,  by  M.  le  Docteur  C.  N. 
Soiiden,  physician  in  the  insane  hospital  at  Stockholm. 

t  Voyage  to  Tonga-Taboo. 


HALLUCINATIONS  IN  ECSTASY,  MAGNETISM,  SOMNAMBULISM.      233 

cient  to  remind  the  reader  that  they  are  described  in  ancient 
and  modern  travels  of  all  nations.* 


SECT.  II.— OF  HALLUCINATIONS  IN  MAGNETISM  AND  SOM- 
NAMBULISM. 

A  very  extraordinary  nervous  condition  is  acquired  when  man 
is  deprived  of  the  action  of  the  senses,  by  isolating  him  com- 
pletely from  the  outer  world,  concentrating  his  mind  on  himself, 
whilst  he  submits  unresistingly  to  the  influence  of  the  experi- 
menter who  produces  these  surprising  effects.  But,  howsoever 
curious  may  be  the  phenomena  of  magnetism,  they  are  surpassed 
by  those  of  somnambulism,  in  which  the  subject,  at  the  command 
of  the  master,  can  display  his  most  secret  thoughts,  and  some- 
times even  the  nature  of  his  complaints.  These  facts,  of 
which  the  ancients  had  a  glimpse,  are  now  recognized.  Ani- 
mal magnetism  is  practised  by  the  aborigines  of  North  and 
South  America  ;  and  may  be  traced  back  to  antiquity.  Since 
the  sixteenth  century,  Vanhelmont  and  Maxwell  have  described 
in  their  writings,  their  most  important  principles. 

The  modern  form  has  been  revealed  by  Illuminism,  for  Swe- 
denborg said,  in  1763  :  "  Man  may  be  raised  to  celestial  light, 
even  in  this  world,  if  his  corporeal  senses  are  wrapped  in  a 
lethargic  sleep. "f 

It  is  unfortunate  that  maç^netism  and  somnambulism  have 
been  attempted  by  quacks  and  rogues — a  circumstance  which 
has  driven  intelligent  men  from  studying  the  subject.  The 
exaggerations  also  to  which  the  partisans  of  this  doctrine  have 
given  way  have  been  no  less  prejudicial  to  the  examination  of 
the  question. 

These  remarks  show  that  we  cannot  accept  without  reserva- 
tion the  judgment  of  the  illustrious  Bailly  ;  but,  in  recognizing 
the  power  of  the  imagination,  we  believe  that  there  exist  facts 
in  magnetism  and  somnambulism  from  which  both  psychology 
and  medicine  will  derive  valuable  results. 

The  plan  of  this  book  will  oblige  us  to  examine  these  two 
states  only  in  their  connection  with  hallucination.     We  will, 

*  Ferd.  Denis,  Tableau  historique  analytique  et  critique,  des  Sciences 
occultes,  p.  203,  et  seq.  Paris,  1842. 
f  Ferdinand  Denis,  oj)  cit.  p.  191. 


234  ox  HALLUCINATIONS. 

therefore,  commence  our  study  by  j^'f'^vision,  which  is  re- 
lated to  magnetism  and  somnambulism  by  the  common  tie  of 
ecstasy. 

Prevision,  which  has  been  attacked  and  defended  with  so  much 
vehemence,  is  illustrated  by  such  curious  facts,  and  is  supported 
by  so  many  respectable  witnesses,  that  impartiality  requires  us 
to  notice  some  of  them,  before  we  adopt  any  opinion  on  the  sub- 
ject. One  of  the  most  authentic  cases  of  prevision  is  mentioned 
by  Josephus: — 

Case  CI.  Four  years  previous  to  the  beginning  of  the  war, 
when  Jerusalem  was  enjoying  peace  and  abundance,  Jesus,  son 
of  Ananus,  a  simple  peasant,  having  come  to  the  Feast  of  Taber- 
nacles, which  was  kept  every  year  in  the  Temple,  in  honor  of 
God,  cried  out:  "A  voice  from  the  East — a  voice  from  the  West 
— a  voice  from  the  four  winds — a  voice  against  Jerusalem  and 
the  Temple — a  voice  against  the  bride  and  the  bridegroom — a 
voice  against  all  the  people  !"  And  he  ceased  not  night  and  day 
to  traverse  the  city,  repeating  the  same  thing.  Some  persons  of 
rank,  unwilling  to  allow  such  ominous  words  to  be  uttered,  had 
him  taken  and  beaten  with  rods.  He  offered  no  word  of  defence 
or  complaint  for  such  cruel  treatment  ;  but  still  repeated  the 
same  words. 

Then  the  magistrates,  believing,  as  was  the  fact,  that  he  was 
divinely  inspired,  brought  him  before  Albinus,  governor  of  Judea. 
He  had  him  flogged  severely,  which  did  not  extract  a  single  prayer 
or  tear  ;  but,  at  every  blow,  he  repeated,  with  a  plaintive  voice  : 
"Woe,  woe  to  Jerusalem  !"  And  when  Albinus  asked  him  who 
he  was,  and  why  he  spoke  in  that  manner,  he  answered  nothing. 
The  governor  then  dismissed  him  as  a  madman,  and  from  that 
time,  until  the  war  commenced,  he  spoke  to  no  one.  But  he 
repeated,  unceasingly:  "Woe,  woe  to  Jerusalem!"  Avithout  re- 
proaching those  who  beat  him,  or  thanking  those  who  fed  him. 
All  his  words  were  confined  to  this  sad  presage,  which  he  uttei'ed 
in  a  louder  voice  on  feast-days.  He  continued  this  conduct  for 
seven  years  and  five  months,  without  intermission,  and  his  voice 
became  neither  weak  nor  hoarse. 

When  Jerusalem  was  besieged,  his  predictions  were  verified; 
and  then,  pacing  the  walls,  he  cried  :  "Woe  to  the  city,  woe  to 
the  people,  woe  to  the  temple  !"  and,  while  repeating  the  words, 


HALLUCINATIONS  IN  ECSTASY,  MAGNETISM,  SOMNAMBULISM.      235 

"Woe  to  myself!"  a  stone,  thrown  from  a  machine,  struck  him 
to  the  earth,  and  he  yielded  up  his  spirit.* 

Saint  Gregory  of  Tours,  the  best  annalist  of  the  fifth  century, 
has  mentioned  a  circumstance,  which  was  also  witnessed  by  a 
number  of  persons: — 

Case  CII.  St.  Ambrose  was  apprised  of  the  death  of  Saint 
Martin  at  Tours  (in  the  year  A.  D.  400),  in  the  church  at  Milan, 
during  the  mass. 

It  was  customary  for  the  reader  to  present  himself  before  the 
officiating  priest  with  the  book,  and  not  to  read  the  lesson  until 
he  was  told  by  him  to  do  so.  Now  it  happened  that,  on  the 
Sunday  in  question,  whilst  he  who  was  prepared  to  read  the 
Epistle  of  St.  Paul,  was  standing  before  the  altar,  St.  Ambrose, 
who  was  celebrating  the  mass,  fell  asleep  on  the  altar. 

Two  or  three  hours  passed,  and  no  one  dared  to  aM'ake  him. 
At  length  the  bystanders  ventured  to  tell  him  how  long  he  had 
kept  the  people  waiting:  "  Be  not  troubled,"  said  he;  "it  has  been 
a  great  blessing  to  me  to  sleep,  since  God  has  worked  a  great 
miracle  ;  know  that  my  brother  St.  Martin  has  just  died.  I 
have  assisted  at  his  obsequies,  and,  after  the  usual  service,  there 
only  remained  the  capitulary  to  repeat,  when  you  awoke  me." 

The  assistants  were  much  surprised.  They  noted  the  day  and 
hour,  and  it  was  discovered  that  the  happy  confessor  had  died 
at  the  very  instant  when  St.  Ambrose  described  himself  as  as- 
sisting at  his  funeral. f 

Reason  and  science  would  explain  these  facts  as  an  undue 
excitement  of  the  brain,  and  as  a  simple  coincidence;  but  that  is 
only  putting  aside  the  difficulty.  Thus,  in  the  case  related  by 
St.  Gregory,  the  death  of  St.  Martin  at  Tours  was  known  to 
St.  Ambrose  at  the  moment  it  occurred,  although  a  distance  of 
more  than  two  hundred  leagues  separated  them.  In  speaking 
of  presentiments  in  dreams,  we  have  related  the  anecdote  of 
Miss  R.,  whose  character  and  mind  vouch  for  the  accuracy  of 
the  details  with  which  she  furnished  me.  In  her  case,  also,  the 
time  of  her  mother's  death  exactly  coincided  with  her  dream. 
Our  researches  into  the  mechanism  of  mind  are   vain;    how, 

*  War  of  the  Jews  against  the  Romans,  Book  VI.,  chap.  31,  p.  71),  edi- 
tion Panthéon  Littéraire, 
t  Grégoire  de  Tours,  De  Miraculis  St.  Martini,  lib.  i.  oh.  5. 


236  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

then,  can  we  expect  to  be  more  learned  when  we  consider  it  in 
its  abnormal  state? 

We  must  not  lose  sight  of  the  fact  that  men  of  the  highest 
intelligence  have  recognized  the  truth  of  cases  of  prevision, 
whilst  they  acknowledge  ignorance  of  the  causes.  Bacon  says, 
that  there  are  striking  examples  of  prevision  of  the  future  in 
dreams,  in  ecstasies,  and  at  the  approach  of  death.* 

"I  cannot  give  the  reason,"  remarks  Machiavel,  "but  it  is 
an  attested  fact  in  all  history,  both  ancient  and  modern,  that 
no  great  misfortune  ever  happened  to  a  city  or  province  that 
was  not  predicted  by  some  soothsayer,  or  announced  by  revela- 
tions, prodigies,  or  other  celestial  signs.  It  is  very  desirable 
that  the  matter  should  be  discussed  by  men  learned  on  matters 
natural  and  supernatural,  an  advantage  that  I  do  not  possess. 
Be  that  as  it  may,  the  fact  is  undeniable."! 

M.  le  Maistre  observes  that  the  spirit  of  prophecy  is  natural 
to  our  kind,  and  will  never  cease  to  be  heard  in  the  world. 
Man,  by  attempting  at  all  times,  and  in  all  places,  to  dive  into 
the  future,  declares  that  he  is  not  formed  for  time;  "for  time  is 
a  forced  thing,  that  only  desires  to  come  to  an  end,"  {^quelque 
chose  de  forcé  qui  ne  demande  qua  finir.) 

Thence  it  is  that  in  our  dreams  we  take  no  note  of  time,  and 
that  a  state  of  sleep  was  always  judged  favorable  to  divine  com- 
munications.J 

We  could  relate  a  vast  number  of  anecdotes  in  support  of  the 
opinion  of  Machiavel;  but  a  few  will  suffice. 

In  the  year  1483,  Savonarola  believed  that  he  felt  within 
him  the  secret  and  prophetic  impulse  which  pointed  him  out  as 
the  reformer  of  the  church,  and  called  him  to  preach  repentance 
to  Christians,  whilst  he  denounced  to  them  the  calamities  with 
which  Church  and  State  were  equally  menaced.  In  1484,  he 
commenced,  at  Brescia,  his  preaching  on  the  Apocalypse,  and  an- 
nounced to  his  auditory  that  the  walls  would  one  day  be  bathed 
in  torrents  of  blood.  Two  years  after  the  death  of  Savonarola, 
this  menace  appeared  to  be  accomplished,  when,  in  1500,  the 

*  Bacon,  De  la  Dignité  de  rAccroissement  des  Sciences,  torn.  ii.  liv.  ii. 

t  Macliiavel,  Discours  sur  Tite-Live,  liv.  i.  p.  56. 

X  M.  le  Maistre,  Soirées  de  St.  Petersbourg,  lie  entretien,  p.  355. 


HALLUCINATIONS  IN  ECSTASY,  MAGNETISM,  SOMNAMBULISM.      237 

French,  under  the  Duke  de  Nemours,  seized  upon  Brescia,  and 
devoted  the  inhabitants  to  a  dreadful  massacre.* 

"Savonarola,"  says  Philippe  de  Commines,  "had  always  as- 
serted the  coming  of  the  King,  and  that  he  was  sent  by  God  to 
chastise  the  tyrants  of  Italy,  and  that  nothing  could  succeed 
against  him  ;  he  had  also  said  that  he  would  enter  Pisa,  and  that, 
on  that  day,  the  States  of  Florence  would  cease  to  exist  ;  and  so 
it  happened,  for  Pierre  de  Medicis  was  on  that  day  driven  out. 
And  he  predicted  many  occurrences  which  took  place,  such  as 
the  death  of  Laurentia  de  Medicis  ;  and  he  also  publicly  said, 
it  was  revealed  to  him  that  the  state  of  the  Church  would  be 
reformed  by  the  sword.  This  prediction  has  been  nearly, 
though  not  quite  fulfilled,  "f 

The  author  of  a  summary  of  the  life  of  Cattho,  Archbishop  of 
Vienna,  printed  with  his  Memoirs,  relates  that  he  first  announced 
the  death  of  Charles  the  Bold  to  Louis  the  Eleventh.  "  At 
the  instant,"  says  the  Summary,  "that  the  said  duke  was  killed. 
King  Louis  was  hearing  mass,  in  the  church  of  Saint  Martin  at 
Tours,  distant  ten  good  days'  journey,  at  least,  from  Nancy  ; 
and  at  the  said  mass,  the  Archbishop  of  Vienna  acted  as  chap- 
lain, who,  in  offering  the  salutation,  said  these  words  to  him: 
'  Sire,  God  grants  you  peace  and  repose  ;  they  are  yours,  if  you 
desire  it,  quia  consummatum  est;  your  enemy  the  Duke  of 
Burgundy  is  dead  ;  he  has  just  now  been  killed,  and  his  army 
discomfited.'  The  hour  designated  was  subsequently  found  to  be 
that  in  which  the  said  Duke  was  killed. "J 

Thirteen  years  previously  to  the  revolution  of  1789,  Père 
Beauregard  (a  learned  preacher)  made  the  arches  of  Nôtre 
Dame  vibrate  with  these  singular  words  :  "  Yea,  thy  temples, 
0  Lord,  will  be  desecrated  and  destroyed,  thy  feasts  abolished, 
thy  name  blasphemed,  thy  worship  proscribed.  But,  what  do  I 
hear?  Great  God  !  what  do  I  see?  Lascivious  and  profane 
songs  succeed  the  holy  canticles,  to  which  these  arches  have 
resounded  in  thy  honor.  And  thou,  infamous  divinity  of  pagan- 
ism, wanton  Venus  !  thou  comest  here  audaciously  to  take  the 

*  Simond  Sisraondi,  Ilist.  Ital.,  torn.  xii.  p.  67  ;  Vita  di  Savonarola,  liv. 
i.  ix.  XV.  p.  19. 

t  Mémoire  de  Philippe  de  Commines,  lib.  viii.  ch.  iii.  p.  270,  et  eh.  xxxvi. 
p.  443. 

X  Biogr.  Univer.,  torn.  viii.  p.  420 — Signé,  W.  S. 


238  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

place  of  the  living  God,  to  sit  on  the  throne  of  the  Saint  of 
Saints,  and  receive  the  culpable  incense  of  thy  new  adorers."* 

The  prediction  of  Gazette,  avouched  by  La  Harpe,  by  Madame 
de  Genlis,  Madame  la  Comtesse  de  Beauharnais,  &;c.,  should 
not  be  passed  by  in  silence  ;  and,  although  the  relation  can  only 
be  received  hesitatingly,  it  does  not  the  less  belong  to  history, 
as  much  on  account  of  the  rank  of  the  personages  concerned 
as  of  the  importance  of  the  events. 

"It  appears  to  me  but  yesterday,"  says  La  Harpe,  "and  yet 
it  was  early  in  1788.  We  were  dining  with  one  of  the  members 
of  our  Academy,  a  man  of  rank  and  talent.  The  guests  were 
numerous  and  of  all  ranks  ;  courtiers,  lawyers,  writers,  academi- 
cians, &c.  ;  as  usual,  they  had  feasted.  At  dessert,  the  wines  of 
Malvoisie  and  Constantia  gave  to  the  gayety  of  the  company  that 
sort  of  license  not  always  discreet  ;  they  had  arrived  at  that 
pitch  when  anything  was  allowable  to  raise  a  laugh.  Chamfort 
had  read  his  insipid  and  libertine  tales,  and  the  great  ladies  had 
listened  without  having  recourse  to  their  fans.  Then  arose  a 
deluge  of  jokes  on  religion.  One  quoted  a  tirade  of  La  Pucelle  ; 
another  recollected  these  philosophic  verses  by  Diderot  : — 

'  Et  des  boyaux  du  dernier  prêtre 
Serrez  le  cou  du  dernier  roi/f 

and  applauded  them.  A  third  rose,  and  holding  a  brimming 
glass,  said:  '  Sirs,  I  am  as  sure  that  there  is  no  God,  as  I  am 
that  Homer  is  a  fool  ;'  and  in  fact  he  was  as  sure  of  the  one  as 
of  the  other. 

"The  conversation  then  became  more  serious  ;  they  were  full 
of  admiration  at  the  revolution  effected  by  Voltaire,  and  agreed 
that  he  had  won  the  highest  title  to  glory.  He  had  given  the 
ton  to  his  age,  and  was  equally  read  in  the  antechamber  and 
the  saloon.  One  of  the  guests  told  us,  with  bursts  of  laughter, 
that  his  hair-dresser  had  said  to  him  :  '  You  see,  sir,  although  I 
am  no  more  than  a  poor  apprentice,  I  have  no  more  religion 
than  others.'  It  was  agreed  that  the  revolution  would  soon  be 
completed  ;    that  superstition  and  fanaticism  must  absolutely 

*  Biog.  univ.,  t.  iii.  p.  421  ;  nouv.  edit.,  article  Beauregard,  Sig.  T.  D. 

t  And  the  bowels  of  the  last  priest 
Bound  the  neck  of  the  last  king. 


HALLUCINATIONS  IN  ECSTASY,  MAGNETISM,  SOMNAMBULISM.      239 

give  way  to  philosophy  ;  and  they  set  about  calculating  the  pro- 
bable time  of  its  supremacy,  and  who  among  them  would  witness 
the  advent  of  the  age  of  reason.  The  aged  lamented  the  impro- 
bability of  their  beholding  it,  while  the  young  rejoiced  in  the  hope 
of  seeing  it  reach  its  meridian  glory.  The  academy  was  above  all 
congratulated  on  having  prepared  the  great  work,  and  on  having 
been  the  principal  promoters  of  liberty  of  thought. 

"  One  alone  of  the  guests  had  not  taken  part  in  the  gayety  of 
conversation,  and  had  even  passed  a  few  quiet  jokes  on  our  fine 
enthusiasm;  it  was  Cazotte,  an  amiable  and  original  man,  but 
unfortunately  infatuated  with  the  reveries  of  the  Illuminists.  He 
took  up  the  conversation,  and  in  a  serious  tone,  said  :  '  Gentle- 
men, be  content  ;  you  will  all  witness  this  grand  and  sublime 
revolution  that  you  so  much  desire.  You  know  I  am  somewhat 
of  a  prophet.  I  repeat,  you  will  see  it.'  They  reply  by  the 
well-known  line,  '  No  need  to  be  a  sorcerer  for  that.'  '  Be  it  so  ; 
but  perhaps  a  little  of  the  prophetic  spirit  is  necessary  to  fore- 
see what  remains  for  me  to  tell.  Do  you  know  what  will  be  the 
result  of  this  revolution — what  will  happen  to  you  all  ?  Do  you 
know  what  will  be  the  immediate  practical  effect,  the  recognized 
consequence?'  '  Ah!  tell  us,'  said  Condorcet,  with  his  deceitful 
and  innocent  look  ;  '  a  philosopher  is  not  sorry  to  encounter  a 
prophet.'  'For  you.  Monsieur  de  Condorcet,  you  will  die 
stretched  on  the  floor  of  a  dungeon  ;  you  will  die  of  the  poison 
that  you  will  take  in  order  to  avoid  the  block;  of  the  poison 
which  the  happiness  of  that  time  will  oblige  you  to  carry  about 
with  you.' 

"  At  first,  much  surprise  was  exhibited,  but  they  presently 
recollected  that  the  good  Cazotte  was  subject  to  waking  dreams, 
and  they  laughed  heartily:  'Monsieur  Cazotte,  the  tale  that 
you  have  told  is  not  so  good  as  your  Diable  Amoureux.' 

"  '  But  what  devil  has  put  this  dungeon,  and  poison,  and 
execution  into  your  head  ?  What  can  that  have  to  do  with  philo- 
sophy and  the  reign  of  reason?*  '  That  is  exactly  what  I  am 
telling  you  ;  it  is  in  the  name  of  philosophy,  of  humanity,  and 
liberty,  and  under  the  reign  of  reason,  that  you  will  meet  with 
this  fate  ;  and  well  may  it  be  called  the  reign  of  reason,  for  she 
will  then  occupy  all  the  churches,  and  there  will  not  then  be  in 
all  France  any  other  temples  than  those  dedicated  to  the  god- 
dess of  Reason.'     'By  my  faith,'  said  Chamfort,  with  a  sarcas- 


240  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

tic  laugh,  'you  will  not  be  a  priest  in  those  temples.'  'I  hope 
not  ;  but  you,  Monsieur  de  Chamfort,  who  will  be  one,  and  a 
worthy  one,  will  open  your  veins  with  twenty-two  razor-cuts, 
and  yet  you  will  not  die  for  some  months.'  They  looked  at  each 
other,  and  laughed  again.  '  You,  Monsieur  Vicq  d'xlzyr,  will 
not  open  your  own  veins,  but  you  will  have  them  opened  six 
times  in  one  day,  in  an  attack  of  the  gout,  in  order  to  be  sure 
of  your  fate,  and  you  will  die  in  the  night.  You,  Monsieur  de 
Nicolai,  will  die  on  the  scaffold  ;  you.  Monsieur  Bailly,  on  the 
scaffold  ;  you.  Monsieur  de  Malesherbes,  on  the  scaffold.'  '  Ah! 
Heaven  be  thanked,'  said  Roucher,  '  this  gentleman,  it  seems, 
only  wants  the  Academicians  ;  he  has  made  a  great  slaughter. 
And  myself,  for  mercy's  sake?'  '  You?  you  also  will  die  on  the 
scaffold.'  '  Oh,  he  has  made  abet  ;  he  has  sworn  to  exterminate 
all  of  us.'  'No,  it  is  not  I  who  have  sworn.'  'But  shall  we 
then  be  conquered  by  Tartars  and  Turks  ?'  '  No,  not  at  all. 
I  have  already  told  you,  you  will  be  governed  by  philosophy  and 
reason  alone.  Those  who  will  thus  treat  you  will  all  be  philoso- 
phers ;  will  have  at  the  time  on  their  tongues  the  same  phrases 
that  you  have  uttered  during  the  last  hour  ;  will  repeat  all  your 
maxims,  and,  like  you,  will  recite  the  verses  of  Diderot  and  La 
Pucelle.' 

"  Everybody  was  whispering  :  '  You  see  he  is  mad,  for  he 
was  perfectly  serious.  It  is  easy  to  see  that  he  is  joking,  and  he 
always  introduces  the  marvellous  into  his  jests.'  '  Yes,'  replied 
Chamfort,  '  but  his  marvellous  is  not  gay  ;  it  savors  too  much 
of  the  gallows.  But  when  is  all  this  to  happen  ?'  '  Six  years 
will  not  have  passed  before  all  that  I  say  will  be  accomplished.' 
'  You  talk  of  miracles  (and  now  it  was  I  who  spoke),  and  do  I 
go  for  nothing?'  'You  will  then  be  a  miracle  no  less  wonder- 
ful, for  you  will  be  a  Christian.'  At  this  there  were  many  ex- 
clamations of  surprise.  '  Ah  !'  said  Chamfort  ;  '  I  am  i-elieved  ; 
if  we  shall  only  perish  when  La  Harpe  becomes  a  Christian,  we 
shall  be  immortal.'  '  As  for  us,'  then,  said  Madame  la  Duchesse 
de  Grammont,  '  women  are  very  happy,  to  rank  for  nothing  in 
revolutions  ;  when  I  say  for  nothing,  I  do  not  mean  to  say  that 
we  do  not  meddle  a  little;  but  our  sex  is  exempt.'  '  Your  sex, 
Madame,  will  not  save  you,  this  time  ;  meddle  how  you  will,  you 
will  all  be  treated  as  men  without  the  least  difference.'  'But 
what  do  you  mean,  Monsieur  Cazotte  ?     You  are  preaching  to 


HALLUCINATIONS  IN  ECSTASY,  MAGNETISM,  SOMNAMBULISM.      241 

U3  the  end  of  the  world.'  'I  know  nothing  about  that;  but 
what  I  do  know,  Duchess,  is,  that  you  will  be  taken  to  the 
scaffold;  you,  and  many  other  ladies  with  you,  in  the  execu- 
tioner's cart,  with  your  hands  tied  behind  your  back.'  '  Ah  !  I 
hope  that  in  that  case  I  shall  at  least  have  a  carriage  hung  with 
black.'  'No,  Madame  ;  ladies  of  higher  rank  than  yourself  will, 
like  you,  go  in  a  cart,  with  their  hands  bound  behind  them.' 
'  Of  higher  rank  !  what  !  princesses  of  the  blood  ?'  '  Of  still 
higher  rank.'  At  this  the  company  began  to  be  agitated,  and 
the  brow  of  the  host  grew  dark  !  All  began  to  feel  that  the 
joke  grew  serious.  In  order  to  dispel  the  cloud,  Madame  de 
Gramraont,  instead  of  noticing  this  reply,  said,  in  a  lively  tone, 
'You  see,  he  will  not  even  let  me  have  a  confessor.'  'No,  Ma- 
dame, neither  you  nor  any  one  else  will  have  one.  The  last  of 
the  condemned  who  will  have  one,  as  a  special  favor,  will  be' — 
he  hesitated.  '  Well,  who  is  the  happy  mortal  that  will  enjoy 
this  privilege  ?'  '  It  is  the  last  that  will  remain  to  him  ;  it  will 
be  the  King  of  France.' 

"  The  master  of  the  house  hurriedly  arose,  and  all  was  confu- 
sion. Approaching  M.  Cazotte,  he  said  to  him  impressively  : 
'  My  dear  Monsieur  Cazotte,  we  have  had  enough  of  this  mourn- 
ful farce.  You  carry  it  too  far,  and  will  not  only  compromise 
yourself,  but  the  whole  company.'  Cazotte  made  no  reply,  but 
prepared  to  depart  ;  when  Madame  de  Grammont,  who  was 
always  merry,  turned  towards  him  and  said:  '  Sir  Prophet,  you 
have  told  us  all  our  good  fortunes,  but  you  have  said  nothing  of 
your  own.'  He  mused  for  some  time  with  his  eyes  cast  down. 
'  Madame,  have  you  read  The  Siege  of  Jerusalem,  by  Josephus  ?' 
'  Oh,  certainly;  who  has  not?  But  tell  me,  as  though  I  had  not 
read  it.'  '  Well,  Madame,  during  the  siege,  there  was  a  man, 
who,  for  seven  days  and  nights,  walked  the  ramparts  incessantly 
in  the  sight  of  besieged  and  besiegers,  shouting  out  in  a  sad  and 
loud  voice:  'Woe  to  Jerusalem!'  and  on  the  seventh  day  he 
cried,  '  Woe  to  Jerusalem  !  Woe  to  myself  !'  at  which  moment 
an  enormous  stone,  cast  by  the  enemy's  machines,  struck  him  and 
crushed  him  to  death.' 

"  On  saying  this,  Cazotte  bowed  and  retired." 
The  phenomena  of  second  sight,  the  belief  in  which  is  so  pre- 
valent in  Scotland  and  in  some  other  countries,  belongs  to  pre- 
vision.     It  is  true  that  philosophy    and  physiology   agree  in 
16 


242  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

rejecting  this  idea;  but  the  evidence  of  many  sensible  men  in 
its  favor  seems  to  justify  a  closer  examination  of  the  subject. 

We  are  far  from  placing  implicit  faith  in  all  that  we  have  heard 
related  bearing  upon  these  phenomena;  we  will  give  the  follow- 
ing case  only,  which  Ferriar,  Hibbert,  and  Abercrombie  have 
considered  in  different  aspects  : — 

Case  CIII.  "An  officer  of  the  English  army,  connected  with 
my  family,''  says  Ferriar,  "was  quartered,  towards  the  middle 
of  the  last  century,  in  the  neighborhood  of  a  Scotch  gentleman 
who  was  gifted  with  second  sight.  One  day,  when  the  officer, 
who  had  made  his  acquaintance,  was  reading  a  play  to  the  la- 
dies, the  host,  who  was  pacing  the  floor,  suddenly  stopped,  and 
appeared  like  one  inspired.  He  rang  the  bell,  and  ordered  the 
servant  to  saddle  a  horse,  and  ride  immediately  to  a  neighboring 
castle,  and  ask  after  the  health  of  the  lady,  and,  if  the  reply 
was  satisfactory,  to  go  on  to  another  house  that  he  named,  and 
inquire  after  a  lady  there. 

"  The  officer  closed  the  book,  and  entreated  his  host  to  explain 
these  sudden  orders,  which  he  attributed  to  second  sight.  He 
hesitated,  but  finally  owned  that  the  door  had  opened  and  ad- 
mitted a  little  woman  without  a  head,  whose  figure  resembled 
the  two  ladies  to  whom  he  had  sent.  He  added  that  the  appa- 
rition was  a  sign  of  the  sudden  death  of  some  person  of  his 
acquaintance. 

"  The  servant  returned  some  hours  afterwards  with  the  inform- 
ation that  one  of  these  ladies  had  died  suddenly  of  apoplexy 
at  the  moment  of  the  apparition. 

"  On  another  occasion,  during  a  stormy  night,  it  happened  that 
the  gentleman  was  sick  in  bed,  and  the  officer  reading  to  him  ; 
the  fishing-boat  was  out  at  sea.  The  old  gentleman,  after  ex- 
hibiting several  times  much  uneasiness  for  his  people,  cried  out; 
'The  boat  is  lost!'  'How  do  you  know  it?'  inquired  the  Co- 
lonel. '  I  see,'  said  the  invalid,  '  two  boatmen,  who  carry  a 
third  drowned;  they  stream  with  water,  and  now  place  him 
close  beside  your  chair.'  At  night,  the  fishermen  returned  with 
the  dead  body  of  their  comrade.''* 

Ferriar  justly  attributes  this  vision  to  hallucinations  ;  accord- 
ing to  Abercrombie,  it  was    the  reminiscence  of  a  forgotten 

*  Ferriar,  op.  cit.  p.  G7. 


HALLUCINATIONS  IN  ECSTASY,  MAGNETISM,  SOMNAMBULISM.      243 

dream.  We  think  that  it  should  be  classed  with  the  hallucina- 
tions experienced  during  ecstasy.  We  must  also  class  the  ecsta- 
tic visions  of  cold  countries  with  hallucinations,  as  also  the  cases 
of  second  sight  common  to  the  Laplanders,  Samoïèdes,  Ostiaks, 
and  Kamtschatdales.     Hibbert  has  given  many  curious  cases.* 

All  phenomena  that  depart  from  common  laws  should  be  sub- 
jected to  severe  examination,  and  rejected  when  they  do  not 
present  evidences  of  truth  ;  but  when  their  occurrence  is  gua- 
ranteed by  men  of  intelligence  and  integrity,  whose  morality  is 
unquestioned,  then  skepticism  is  no  longer  possible;  the  difficulty 
lies  only  in  their  correct  interpretation.  There  are  doubtless  a 
great  number  of  cases  of  prevision  which  may  be  explained  by 
the  hallucinations  of  ecstasy  ;  but  there  are  some,  also,  which 
appear  to  belong  to  a  different  order  of  things  ;  such  is  the  ac- 
count related  by  Josephus.  There  is,  therefore,  developed,  in 
a  manner  unknown  to  us,  a  greater  activity  of  the  faculty  of 
perception,  just  as  we  see,  in  certain  diseases,  the  senses  acquire 
an  extraordinary  delicacy  on  the  approach  of  death,  when  the 
sick  person  astonishes  those  about  him  by  the  elevation  of  his 
thoughts,  and  the  sudden  lucidity  of  a  mind  which  has  been 
obscured  during  many  long  years. f 

"Nothing  is  more  surprising,"  observes  Aretée,  "than  the 
observations  sometimes  made  by  patients,  in  the  midst  of  their 
paroxysms,  the  propositions  they  advance,  and  the  objects  they 
behold.  Their  senses  are  exalted  ;  their  minds  possess  great 
subtlety,  and  an  extraordinary  power  of  penetrating  into  futurity. 
At  first,  they  commence  by  presaging  their  own  death  ;  they 
then  predict  the  future  of  those  persons  who  may  be  present  ; 
and  then  their  spirits  are  released  from  the  coarse  covering  of 
clay.     This  event  fills  all  who  witness  it  with  admiration."! 

The  same  author  observes  :  "It  is  interesting  to  listen  to  the 
occasional  sayings  and  soliloquies  of  patients  on  the  approach 
of  an  attack  of  apoplexy.     All  their  senses  seem  healthy  and 

*  History  of  Lapland,  written  by  John  Scheffer,  Professor  of  Law  at 
Upsal,  in  Sweden.     English  Translation,  published  A.  D.  1704. 

t  Brierre  de  Boismont,  Du  Rétour  de  la  Raison  chez  les  Aliénés  Mour- 
ants ;  Mémoire  inédit.  Gazette  des  Hôpitaux,  1844  {Annal.  Méd.  Psych.), 
torn.  ii.  2d  série,  p.  531. 

X  Aretée  de  Cappadoce,  De  signis  et  causis  oculorum  morborum,  lib. 
ii.  cap.  V. 


244  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

perfect,  and  they  appear  to  have  acquired  the  power  of  pro- 
phecy. The  first  object  of  their  thoughts  is  the  fact  that  they 
are  about  to  leave  the  world  ;  they  then  announce  the  future  by 
the  present,  and,  the  event  justifying  their  predictions,  they  are 
looked  upon  as  real  prophets.  I  had  one  who  predicted  his 
death  six  days  before  the  event  took  place."* 

We  will  only  extract  one  very  curious  passage  from  Cabanis  : 
"I  think  it  here  necessary,"  says  that  physician,  "to  refer 
particularly  to  those  singular  acute  maladies  in  which  in- 
tellectual faculties  suddenly  become  developed  that  have  not 
previously  existed.  It  is  also  observed,  that  in  some  spas- 
modic and  ecstatic  diseases,  the  organs  of  sense  become 
susceptible  of  receiving  impressions  which  were  not  perceptible 
in  a  normal  state,  and  which  may  even  be  characterized  as 
unnatural.  I  have  frequently  noticed  the  most  singular  effects 
arising  from  this  susceptibility  of  sensation  in  women  who  would 
doubtless  have  distinguished  themselves  as  excellent  Pytho- 
nesses. 

Some  of  these  patients  see  the  most  microscopic  objects  with 
the  naked  eye  ;  others  see  so  clearly  in  the  dark,  as  to  move  in 
perfect  security.  There  are  others,  again,  who  follow  persons  by 
their  scent,  like  a  dog,  and  can  distinguish  such  things  as  they 
have  used  or  even  only  touched. 

"I  have  seen  some  whose  taste  has  acquired  a  peculiar  deli- 
cacy, and  who  would  demand  or  choose  aliment  and  even  reme- 
dies that  would  be  really  serviceable  to  them,  with  a  sagacity 
ordinarily  observable  only  in  animals.  Some  have  the  power  of 
looking  within  themselves  during  their  paroxysms,  and  announc- 
ing the  approach  of  certain  crises,  the  occurrence  of  which  soon 
proves  the  justness  of  their  sensations  ;  or  they  notice  other 
organic  modifications  attested  by  the  state  of  the  pulse  and 
other  still  more  certain  signs."t 

Is  it  a  weakness  to  acknowledge  that  a  number  of  phenomena 
pass  in  the  profoundness  of  thought,  which  will  forever  remain 
unexplained  ?  Had  Dr.  Charpignon  read  this  paragraph,  he 
would  not  have  said,  in  pages  158  and  350,  in  his  Physiologie  du 

*  Bordeu,  Recherches  sur  les  Maladies  chroniques,  t.  p.  325,  et  suiv. 
Edit,  de  l'an.  ix. 

t  Cabanis  7e  Mémoire  De  l'Influence  des  Maladies  sur  la  Formation  des 
idées  et  des  affections  morales. 


HALLUCINATIONS  IN  ECSTASY,  MAGNETISM,  SOMNAMBULISM.      245 

Magnetism^  that  I  explain  all  cases  of  second  sight  by  halluci- 
nation. My  opinions  on  presentiments,  foresight,  apparitions, 
and  the  books  of  the  saints,  formally  contradict  this  theory.* 

Somnamhidism.  —  The  consideration  of  hallucinations  in 
ecstasy  and  prevision,  brings  us  naturally  to  speak  of  those 
observable  in  somnambulism.  Natural  somnambulism  has  many 
points  of  affinity  with  dreams,  and  really  appears  to  diflFer  from 
them  only  in  the  degree  wherewith  the  bodily  functions  are 
affected.  The  mind,  as  in  dreams,  is  fixed  upon  certain  impres- 
sions, which  it  takes  for  so  many  real  and  actual  external  sensa- 
tions ;  but  the  organs  are  more  obedient  to  the  mandates  of  the 
will,  so  that  the  individual  speaks  and  acts  under  the  influence 
of  these  erroneous  conceptions. 

"  We  must  attribute,"  says  Richard,  "all  that  is  inexplicable 
in  somnambulism  to  the  force  of  imagination,  which  presents 
images  to  the  somnambulist  with  the  same  definiteness  that  they 
are  presented  in  dreams.  Undeniably,  in  dreams,  we  see  objects 
as  clearly  as  though  it  were  bright  day,  because  the  light  which 
has  conveyed  the  illuminated  objects  to  the  brain,  impresses 
them  there. t 

Somnambulism,  as  in  other  nervous  conditions  of  which  we 
have  treated,  is  favorable  to  the  production  of  hallucinations. 

Case  CIV.  A  highly  respectable  man,  who  had  long  been  in 
command  of  a  large  merchant  ship,  related  the  following  to  Sir 
Walter  Scott,  which  occurred  whilst  he  was  in  the  Tagus.  One 
of  his  crew  was  assassinated  by  a  Portuguese,  and  it  was  rumored 
that  the  ghost  of  the  deceased  haunted  the  ship.  Sailors  are 
proverbially  superstitious  ;  and,  in  this  instance,  they  exhibited 
much  repugnance  to  staying  on  board.  In  fact,  it  seemed  pro- 
bable that  they  would  desert  rather  than  return  to  England  with 
a  ghost  as  passenger.  It  became,  therefore,  necessary  for  Cap- 
tain S.  to  sift  the  matter  ;  he  discovered  that,  although  they  all 
pretended  to  have  seen  lights,  and  to  have  heard  noises,  the 
whole  story  was  founded  on  the  statement  of  one  of  his  lieuten- 
ants, an  Irishman  and  a  Catholic;  but  a  cool,  honest,  and  sensible 
man,  and  whom  the  captain  had  no  reason  to  suspect  of  wilfully 
deceiving  him. 

*  J.  Charpignon,  Physiologie  Médecine  et  Métaphysique  du  Magnétisme, 
1  vol.  in  8,  Paris  1848. 
t  Richard,  Théorie  des  Songes,  1  vol.  in  12,  p.  104,  Paris,  1754. 


246  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

The  lieutenant  solemnly  told  Captain  S.  that  the  spectre  of 
the  deceased  appeared  to  him  almost  nightly,  obliged  him  to 
abandon  whatever  he  was  engaged  in,  and,  as  he  expressed  him- 
self, burnt  him  by  a  slow  fire. 

He  related  this  with  every  demonstration  of  horror,  proving 
the  reality  of  his  distress  and  his  fear.  The  captain,  without 
pursuing  the  subject,  resolved  to  watch,  during  the  night,  the 
actions  of  this  man. 

When  the  bells  sounded  midnight,  the  sleeper  suddenly  rose, 
with  a  wild  and  distressed  look,  lighted  a  candle,  and  walked  to 
the  kitchen  ;  he  there  sat  down,  and,  with  eyes  wide  open,  ap- 
peared to  be  staring  at  some  terrible  object,  from  which,  how- 
ever, he  could  not  remove  his  gaze.  At  the  end  of  some  seconds 
he  rose,  took  a  pot,  which  he  filled  with  water,  and,  talking  to 
himself  in  a  low  tone,  mixed  salt  in  it,  and  sprinkled  it  over  the 
kitchen.  He  then  heaved  a  deep  sigh,  like  a  man  relieved  of  a 
heavy  oppression,  and,  returning  to  his  hammock,  slept  peace- 
fully. On  the  following  morning  he  related  to  the  captain  the 
exact  history  of  the  apparition,  adding  that  the  ghost  had  taken 
him  to  the  kitchen  ;  but  that,  having  fortunately  procured,  he 
did  not  know  how,  some  holy  water,  he  had  succeeded  in  ridding 
himself  of  his  visitor. 

The  captain  told  him  all  that  had  actually  passed  in  the  night, 
adding  details  that  proved  him  to  have  been  the  dupe  of  his 
imagination.  He  acknowledged  the  justness  of  the  captain's 
reasonings,  and,  as  often  happens  in  cases  where  the  illusion  has 
been  pointed  out,  the  dream  returned  no  more.* 

In  ordinary  cases,  the  affection  occurs  during  the  night  ;  but 
it  is  not  very  uncommon  to  observe,  through  the  day,  a  state 
which  bears  some  analogy  to  somnambulism,  and  in  which  is 
particularly  remarked  an  indifference  to  external  objects.  Under 
some  circumstances,  these  attacks  have  occurred  suddenly;  and, 
under  others,  they  have  been  preceded  by  a  noise  or  confusion 
in  the  head.  The  individuals  then  become  more  or  less  absent  ; 
they  have  no  longer  any  connection  with  exterior  objects,  or 
have  but  a  confused  idea  of  them.  They  may  frequently  con- 
verse in  a  continued  and  intelligible  manner,  but  the  actual 
impress  of  the  mind  is  reflected  in  their  discourse.     In  some 

*  Walter  Scott,  op.  cit.  p.  216. 


HALLUCINATIONS  IN  ECSTASY,  MAGNETISM,  SOMNAMBULISM.      247 

cases  they  recite  long  poems,  often  with  more  correctness  than 
they  would  do  in  their  waking  hours.  They  sometimes  hold 
discourse  with  imaginary  beings,  relate  circumstances  or  conver- 
sations that  happened  long  back,  and  which  they  might  be  sup- 
posed to  have  forgotten  ;  some  have  been  heard  to  sing  much 
better  than  in  their  natural  state,  and  authentic  examples  are 
cited  of  persons  in  that  state  who  have  spoken  correctly  in  a 
language  which  they  knew  but  imperfectly. 

Case  CV.  "Some  years  ago,"  says  Abercrombie,  "I  at- 
tended a  young  lady  subject  to  an  affection  of  this  character, 
which  always  took  place  during  the  day,  and  which  lasted  from 
ten  minutes  to  one  hour.  Without  any  premonitory  symptoms, 
her  body  became  motionless,  her  eyes  open,  fixed,  and  she  was 
completely  insensible,  and  quite  unconscious  of  what  was  pass- 
ing around  her.  She  was  frequently  attacked  whilst  playing  on 
the  piano  ;  she  continued  to  play  with  perfect  correctness,  but 
without  getting  beyond  a  certain  point.  She  was,  on  one  occa- 
sion attacked  just  as  she  was  about  to  begin  a  new  piece.  Dur- 
ing the  paroxysm,  she  repeated  it  perfectly  five  or  six  times  ; 
but  on  recovering,  could  not  play  it  without  study."* 

This  appears  to  us  to  have  been  a  union  of  catalepsy,  epilepsy, 
and  ecstasy. 

The  hallucinations  of  somnambulism  may  give  rise  to  the  most 
singular  actions,  and  to  resolutions  involving  the  gravest  respon- 
sibility, which  might  result  in  unhappy  consequences  to  the  ac- 
tors if  these  facts  were  not  known. 

Case  CVI.  Dom.  Duhaget  was  of  a  good  family  in  Gascony, 
and  had  distinguished  himself  in  service  ;  he  had  been  a  cap- 
tain in  the  infantry  for  twenty  years  ;  and  was  a  chevalier  of 
St.  Louis.  I  never  knew  any  one  possessing  more  amiability  or 
piety. 

"  We  had,"  he  related,  "  a  friar  at ,  where  I  was  prior 

before  I  came  to  Pierre  Chatel,  of  a  melancholy  disposition  and 
a  gloomy  character,  who  was  known  as  a  somnambulist. 

"  Sometimes,  during  the  paroxysms,  he  would  leave  his  cell, 
and  re-enter  it  alone  ;  at  others,  he  would  lose  himself,  and  have 
to  be  brought  back.  His  case  had  been  treated,  and  as  the 
returns  were  very  rare,  it  had  ceased  to  attract  attention. 

*  Abercrombie,  op.  cit.  pp.  308  and  328. 


248  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

"  One  night,  I  was  sitting  up  beyond  my  usual  hour  for  re- 
tiring. I  was  engaged  in  looking  over  some  papers  in  my  desk, 
when  I  heard  the  door  open  and  saw  the  friar  enter  in  a  com- 
plete state  of  somnambulism.  His  eyes  were  open,  but  fixed  ; 
he  had  on  only  the  garment  in  which  he  slept,  and  held  a  large 
knife  in  his  hand.  He  went  straight  to  my  bed;  appeared  to 
satisfy  himself  by  feeling,  that  I  was  really  there  ;  after  which, 
he  struck  three  heavy  blows  so  powerfully,  that  the  blade,  after 
piercing  the  clothes,  entered  deep  into  the  mattress,  or  rather 
the  mat,  which  I  used  instead.  When  he  first  entered,  his  brow 
was  frowning  and  the  muscles  of  his  face  contracted.  Having 
struck,  he  turned  around,  and  I  observed  that  instead  of  the 
frowning  and  distorted  features,  his  countenance  was  overspread 
with  an  air  of  great  satisfaction.  The  light  from  two  lamps 
that  were  on  my  desk  had  no  efi"ect  on  his  eyes  ;  he  returned  as 
he  came,  opening  and  shutting  quietly  the  two  doors  that  led  to 
my  cell  ;  and  I  was  soon  satisfied  that  he  had  gone  directly  and 
quietly  to  his  own. 

"  You  may  imagine,"  continued  the  prior,  "  my  state  of  mind, 
during  this  terrible  apparition.  I  shuddered  with  horror  at  the 
danger  from  which  I  had  escaped,  and  so  great  was  my  emotion 
that  I  could  not  close  an  eye  the  whole  night. 

"  The  next  day,  I  summoned  the  somnambulist,  and  quietly 
asked  him  of  what  he  had  dreamed  the  preceding  night.  At 
this  question  he  was  agitated.  '  Father,'  replied  he,  '  I  had  so 
strange  a  dream  that  I  do  not  like  to  tell  you  of  it  ;  it  is,  perhaps, 
the  work  of  the  evil  one,  and' —  'I  command  it,'  replied  I  ;  '  a 
dream  is  always  involuntary,  and  is  but  an  illusion.'  'Father,' 
said  he,  '  I  was  hardly  asleep  before  I  dreamed  that  you  had 
killed  my  mother  ;  that  her  bleeding  shade  appeared  and  de- 
manded vengeance  ;  at  this  sight,  I  was  so  enraged  that  I  flew 
like  a  madman  to  your  apartment  and  stabbed  you.  Soon  after- 
wards I  awoke,  bathed  in  perspiration.  I  hated  myself  for  the 
outrage,  and  then  blessed  God  that  so  great  a  crime  had  not 
been  committed.'  '  The  deed  was  nearer  consummation  than 
you  are  aware  of,'  said  I  to  him,  with  a  calm  and  serious  air. 

"  I  then  related  what  had  occurred,  and  showed  him  the  evi- 
dence of  the  blows  which   he  thought   were  dealt   upon    me. 

"  Upon  this,  he  threw  himself  at  my  feet  in  tears,  groaning 


HALLUCINATIONS  IN  ECSTASY,  MAGNETISM,  SOMNAMBULISM.      249 

over  the  misfortune  which  had  so  nearly  happened,  and  im- 
ploring such  penance  as  I  thought  fit  to  inflict  upon  him. 

"No,  no,"  I  cried;  "I  shall  not  punish  you  for  an  involun- 
tary act  ;  but  henceforth  I  dispense  with  your  services  during 
the  night,  and  advise  you  that  I  shall  have  your  cell  locked  on 
the  outside  after  the  evening  repast,  and  opened  only  in  time  for 
you  to  attend  mass  at  daybreak." 

If,  under  these  circumstances,  the  prior,  who  escaped  by  a 
miracle,  had  been  killed,  the  sleep-walking  friar  would  not  have 
been  punished,  as  it  would  have  been  an  involuntary  murder  on 
his  part.* 

The  Neapolitan  journals  lately  related  a  case  in  which  a  man, 
in  a  state  of  somnambulism,  dreaming  that  his  wife,  then  by  his 
side,  was  unfaithful,  wounded  her  dangerously  with  a  poniard, 
which  he  always  carried  about  him.  M.  Maglietta,  a  barrister, 
published  an  opinion,  in  which  he  contended  that  blows  and 
wounds  inflicted  by  a  man  asleep,  and  in  a  state  of  somnambulism, 
were  not  punishable. f 

Lorry  has  described  two  very  interesting  cases  which  he  wit- 
nessed. A  woman,  in  a  state  resembling  somnambulism,  was  in 
the  habit  of  conversing  loudly  with  absent  persons  whom  she 
thought  she  saw.  She  was  so  insensible  to  external  impressions, 
that  she  could  be  pinched  and  pricked  without  manifesting  the 
slightest  pain.  In  this  state  she  perceived  distinctly  the  objects 
with  which  she  was  in  connection.  Her  arms  and  fingers  pre- 
served their  position,  until  an  involuntary  movement  of  the 
members  gave  them  another  direction.  After  the  paroxysm, 
she  had  no  recollection  of  what  had  passed. 

The  other  case  was  that  of  a  woman  who  was  irregular. 
During  the  continuance  of  this  state,  she  was  in  the  habit  of 
conversing  with  a  person  whom  she  appeared  distinctly  to  see. 
Her  discourse  always  dwelt  on  the  thought  that  had  preoccupied 
her  mind.  In  this  state,  she  was  unconscious  of  the  presence  of 
any  one.  The  mother  of  this  woman  having  died  suddenly,  the 
daughter,  during  her  paroxysms,  continued  to  talk  with  her  as 
though  she  were  living. 

*  Brillât  Savarin,  Physiologie  de  goût,  2d  edit.  t.  i.  p.  6,  Paris,  1828. 
t  Union  Médicale,  16  December,  1851. 


250  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

The  most  remarkable  peculiarity  of  these  cases  is  the  pro- 
found insensibility  of  the  individuals  to  outward  impressions, 
excepting  to  those  connected  with  their  ideas,  thoughts,  and 
sentiments  ;  they  are  instances  of  striking  analogy  with  animal 
somnambulism.  Another  characteristic  of  this  affection  is  the 
instantaneous  change  which  occurs  in  thought  and  consciousness. 
The  affection  is  also  characterized  by  the  ecstatic  disposition  of 
the  mind,  by  the  total  suspension  of  actual  ideas,  which  con- 
tinues for  an  indefinite  period,  and  in  the  equally  sudden  and 
remarkable  return  of  the  mind  to  the  normal  state  on  the  termi- 
mination  of  the  paroxysm. 

I  shall  conclude  this  series  of  observations  with  a  case  bor- 
rowed from  Dr.  Dyce,  of  Aberdeen  ;  it  possesses  much  interest, 
and  resembles,  in  some  respects,  that  of  Negretti,  related  by 
Muratori,  but  appears  decisive  on  the  question  whether  or  not 
somnambulism  carries  with  it  the  suspension  of  the  senses,  and 
their  transposition  to  the  nervous  system  of  physical  life. 

Case  CVIl.  Dyce  speaks  of  a  young  girl,  who  was  of  delicate 
health  until  she  attained  womanhood.  The  first  symptom 
which  appeared  was  great  drowsiness,  soon  followed  by  a  per- 
petual desire  to  talk.  She  repeated  what  had  passed  during 
the  day,  and  sang  both  sacred  and  profane  melodies.  Every 
night,  in  her  sleep,  she  imagined  herself  going  to  Epsom  Races, 
mounted  a  kitchen  stool,  and  ran  round  the  room,  imitating  the 
sounds  used  by  a  person  riding.  She  replied  without  waking  to 
any  questions  that  were  asked  her.  The  returns  of  this  state 
were  frequent,  and  at  irregular  intervals.  She  dressed  the 
children  in  her  sleep,  and  at  one  time  she  set  the  table  for 
breakfast,  her  eyes  remaining  closed. 

When  taken  to  church,  she  understood  the  sermon,  and 
seemed  much  affected  when  the  preacher  spoke  of  three  young 
persons  who  had  been  executed,  and  of  their  progress  in  crime. 
On  being  questioned,  when  the  paroxysm  was  over,  and  having 
returned  home,  she  denied  having  been  to  church  ;  but  in  the 
subsequent  recurrence  of  the  somnambulic  state,  she  repeated 
the  text  and  the  substance  of  the  discourse. 

Artificial  Somnambulism. — The  cases  to  which  we  have  just 
directed  attention,  lead  us  to  those  relating  to  artificial  somnam- 
bulism. We  must  not  confound  these  two  conditions,  although 
they  present  certain  analogies  ;  thus,  the  first  usually  occurs 


HALLUCINATIONS  IN  ECSTASY,  MAGNETISM,  SOMNAMBULISM.      251 

without  any  perceptible  cause,  and  is  not  under  the  influence  of 
the  will.  The  somnambulist  appears  to  use  but  one  sense,*  and 
his  attention  is  excited  by  only  one  order  of  facts,  those  with 
which  his  mind  is  occupied;  his  thoughts  have  but  one  tendency, 
and  he  is  conscious  of  nothing  that  does  not  bear  some  relation 
to  this  peculiar  direction  of  the  mind.  The  second  state  suc- 
ceeds magnetism  ;  it  is  determined  by  the  will  of  the  operator. 
Almost  always,  however,  the  thoughts  and  attention  of  the  per- 
son are  free. 

Artificial  somnambulism  offers  several  curious  phenomena. 
We  have  already  spoken  of  some  of  them  on  the  occasion  of 
dreams  and  ecstasy  ;  here,  however,  we  will  confine  ourselves 
to  the  study  of  somnambulism  in  its  relation  to  hallucination. 
Those  who  maintain  that  we  explain  this  singular  state  by  hallu- 
cination, are  in  error  ;  it  is  one  thing  to  affirm  that  it  is  pro- 
duced in  the  magnetic  sleep  of  hallucinations,  and  another  to 
say  that  somnambulism  is  but  a  hallucination.  It  must  not, 
however,  be  lost  sight  of,  that  this  phenomenon  may  be  physio- 
logical, and  yet  be  manifested  in  reverie,  dreams,  and  other 
dispositions  of  the  mind  which  have  never  been  seriously  ranked 
with  insanity. 

Amongst  the  cases  of  artificial  somnambulism,  we  will  select 
those  whose  authenticity  cannot  be  questioned. 

Case  CVIII.  Madame  Plantin,  about  64  years  of  age,  con- 
sulted, in  the  month  of  June,  1828,  a  somnambulist,  who  was 
introduced  to  her  by  Dr.  Chapelain,  and  by  whom  she  was  in- 
formed that  a  tumor  would  form  in  her  right  breast,  and  threaten 
to  become  cancerous.  The  invalid  passed  the  summer  in  the 
country,  but  attended  very  carelessly  to  the  regimen  prescribed. 
Towards  the  end  of  September  she  returned  to  see  Dr.  Chape- 
lain,  and  confessed  that  the  tumor  was  considerably  increased. 
He  began  to  magnetize  her  on  the  23d  October  following,  and 

*  In  somnambulism,  hearing  is  frequently  presei-ved,  questions  are 
heard  and  replied  to  as  in  waking.  Touch  is  also  frequently  perfect;  and 
even  in  some  cases  acquires  an  extraordinary  delicacy.  This  is  the  sense 
which  presides,  as  it  were,  over  all  the  actions  of  somnambulists.  Sauvages 
of  Montpellier  has  described  two  sick  persons  in  the  hospital  as  natural 
somnambulists,  and  also  clairvoyants  ;  his  account  is  found  in  the  Mé- 
moires de  l'Académie  des  Sciences  (Szaf kowski,  Recherches  sur  les  Halluci- 
nations, 1849,  p.  155). 


252  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

the  sleep  was  induced  several  days  afterwards  ;  but  absolute 
soumambulism  was  never  very  perfect  in  her.  The  means  em- 
ployed retarded  without  curing  the  disease.  Finally,  the  breast 
gathered,  and  the  doctor  thought  that  the  only  hope  was  to  have 
it  removed.  M.  Jules  Cloquet,  a  very  skilful  surgeon,  was  of 
the  same  opinion;  it  remained  to  gain  the  consent  of  the  invalid, 
in  which  Dr.  Chapelain,  by  his  influence  over  her,  succeeded. 
He  used  the  whole  power  of  his  will  to  produce  insensibility  of 
the  part,  and,  when  he  thought  he  had  succeeded,  he  pinched 
the  end  of  the  breast  violently  with  his  nails  without  causing 
V  pain.  The  invalid  was  ignorant  of  the  day  fixed  for  the  opera- 
tion ;  it  was  the  12th  of  April,  1829.  Dr.  Chapelain  magnetized 
her,  and  powerfully  magnetized  the  part  on  which  they  were 
about  to  operate.  He  also  magnetized  the  operator  and  his 
assistant,  who  doubted  not  that  Madame  Plantin  would  awake 
at  the  first  incision  ;  but  their  astonishment  was  extreme  at  her 
profound  insensibility.  "It  appeared  to  me,"  said  Dr.  Cloquet, 
"  that  we  were  cutting  a  corpse."  I  will  subjoin  the  report  of 
this  case,  transmitted  to  the  surgical  department  of  the  Royal 
Academy  of  Medicine  :* — 

"  On  the  day  fixed  for  the  operation,  M.  Cloquet,  on  his  arri- 
val at  half-past  10,  found  the  invalid  dressed  and  seated  in  her 
arm-chair  in  the  attitude  of  a  person  in  a  quiet  natural  sleep. 
She  had  been  about  an  hour  before  to  mass,  Avhich  she  ha- 
bitually attended  at  that  hour,  and  M.  Chapelain  magnetized 
her  on  her  return.  She  spoke  very  calmly  of  the  operation  she 
was  about  to  undergo.  Everything  being  prepared,  she  undressed 
and  seated  herself  in  a  chair. 

"  Dr.  Chapelain  supported  her  right  arm,  the  left  was  allowed 
to  lie  at  her  side.  M.  Pailloux,  house-student  of  the  Hospital 
of  St.  Louis,  had  the  care  of  giving  the  instruments  and  making 
the  ligatures. 

"  A  first  incision,  beginning  near  the  hollow  of  the  arm-pit, 
was  directed  above  the  tumor  towards  the  inner  face  of  the 
breast.  The  second,  commencing  at  the  same  spot,  cut  round 
beneath  the  tumor  and  joined  the  first  ;  the  engorged  glands 
were  carefully  dissected  on  account  of  their  nearness  to  the  axil- 

*  See  the  Archives  générales  de  Médecine,  t,  sx.  p.  131,  et  seq.,  May, 
1829. 


HALLUCINATIONS  IN  ECSTASY,  MAGNETISM,  SOMNAMBULISM.      253 

lary  artery,  and  the  tumor  was  extracted.  The  operation  lasted 
from  ten  to  twelve  minutes.  During  all  this  time  the  patient 
conversed  tranquilly  with  the  operator  ;  there  was  no  change  in 
the  position  of  the  limbs  or  features,  nor  in  the  respiration  or 
the  voice  ;  the  pulsations  also  were  natural.  She  continued  in 
the  same  automatic  state  of  ease  and  impassibility  in  which  M. 
Cloquet  found  her  on  his  arrival.  There  was  no  cause  for  re- 
straint ;  it  was  simply  requisite  to  support  her.  A  ligature 
was  applied  to  the  thoracic  lateral  artery,  divided  during  the 
extraction  of  the  glands.  It  is  worthy  of  remark  that,  when 
the  surgeon  washed  the  skin  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  wound, 
with  a  sponge  dipped  in  warm  water,  the  patient  manifested 
sensations  resembling  those  produced  by  tickling,  and  said 
quickly,  several  times,  '  Ah  !  stop  ;  don't  tickle  me.' 

*'  The  wound  being  dressed  with  adhesive  plaster,  the  patient 
was  put  in  bed,  still  in  a  state  of  somnambulism,  in  which  she 
was  allowed  to  remain  for  forty-eight  hours.* 

"  This  lady  had  a  daughter  married  to  M.  Lagandré  ;  unfor- 
tunately she  was  in  the  country,  and  could  not  be  in  Paris  for 
some  days  after  the  operation.  Madame  Lagandré  was  a  som- 
nambulist, and  exhibited  remarkable  clearness  of  perception. 

"  M.  Cloquet  proposed  to  Dr.  Chapelain  to  magnetize  Ma- 
dame Lagandré.  To  this  he  assented,  and  after  placing  her  in 
the  magnetic  state,  he  made  many  inquiries  respecting  Madame 
Plantin.  Her  replies  were  as  follows  :  '  My  mother  is  very 
much  reduced  ;  she  no  longer  lives  but  by  magnetism,  which 
sustains  her  artificially;  she  has  no  life  in  her.'  'Do  you  think 
that  your  mother's  life  can  be  saved?'  'No  ;  she  will  die  to- 
morrow morning  early,  without  agony  or  suffering.'  '  What  are 
the  diseased  parts?'  'The  left  lung  is  shrunk,  folded  upon 
itself;  it  is  surrounded  by  a  skin-like  membrane,  and  is  floating 
in  water.  But  it  is  chiefly  there,'  said  the  somnambulist,  point- 
ing to  the  inferior  angle  of  the  scapula,  '  that  my  mother  sufl'ers. 
The  right  lung  no  longer  breathes  ;  it  is  dead  ;  the  left  lung 
is  healthy  ;  it  is  by  that  my  mother  lives.  There  is  a  little 
water  in    the    pericardium.'      'What  is   the  condition  of  the 

*  Madame  Plantin  died  fifteen  or  sixteen  days  after  the  operation,  but 
from  causes  unconnected  with  it;  she  was  opened,  and  the  peculiarities  of 
the  autopsy  were  found  to  be  remarkable. 


254  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

organs  of  the  abdomen  ?'  '  The  stomach  and  intestines  are 
healthy  ;  the  liver  is  white  and  decolored  on  the  surface.' 

"  M.  Chapelain  powerfully  magnetized  the  patient  several 
times  during  Monday,  and  hardly  succeeded  in  making  her 
sleep.  When  he  returned  on  Tuesday  morning,  about  seven 
o'clock,  she  had  just  expired.  The  two  physicians  were  desirous 
of  verifying  the  descriptions  of  the  somnambulist  as  to  the 
interior  condition  of  the  body  ;  and  obtained  the  consent  of  the 
family  to  a  post-mortem  examination.  M.  Moreau,  secretary  of 
the  surgical  department  of  the  Academy  of  Medicine,  and  Dr. 
Drousart,  were  requested  to  be  present  as  witnesses,  and  it  was 
determined  on  for  the  next  day.  It  was  conducted  by  M.  Clo- 
quet  and  M.  Pailloux,  his  assistant,  and  Dr.  Chapelain.  The 
latter  put  Madame  Lagandré  into  the  magnetic  sleep  a  little 
before  the  hour  fixed  on.  I  Avill  not  describe  the  scene  of  ten- 
derness and  filial  piety  which  took  place,  during  which  the 
somnambulist  bathed  with  tears  the  inanimate  body  of  her 
mother. 

"  Dr.  Chapelain  hastened  to  calm  her.  The  physicians  desired 
to  hear  from  her  own  lips  what  she  had  described  as  having  seen 
within  the  body  of  her  mother,  and  the  somnambulist  repeated, 
in  a  firm  voice,  and  without  hesitation,  what  she  had  already 
related  to  MM.  Cloquet  and  Chapelain.  She  was  then  led  by 
the  latter  into  the  room  adjoining  that  in  which  the  autopsy  was 
to  take  place,  and  the  door  was  carefully  closed.  Madame 
Lagandré  continued  in  a  state  of  somnambulism,  and  notwith- 
standing the  barrier  that  separated  her  from  those  gentlemen, 
she  followed  the  knife  in  the  hands  of  the  operator,  and  observed 
to  those  near  to  her:  'Why  do  they  make  an  incision  in  the 
middle  of  the  chest  when  the  disease  is  on  the  right  side?' 

"The  indications  of  the  somnambulist  were  found  correct,  and 
the  description  of  the  autopsy  was  written  by  Dr.  Drousart,  as 
follows  : — 

"  Description  of  the  post-mortem  examination  of  the  body  of 
Madame  Plantin,  on  Tuesday,  29th  April,  1829:  — 

^'■Exterior. — Yellowish  paleness  over  the  body  ;  very  thin  ; 
abdomen  large.  The  wound  three  quarters  healed  ;  the  surface 
granulated,  and  flesh  healthy  ;  the  edges  sunken,  and  covered 
with  a  newly  formed  cicatrix. 

"  Interior. — On  opening  the  chest,  the  cavity  of  the  right 


HALLUCINATIONS  IN  ECSTASY,  MAGNETISM,  SOMNAMBULISM.      255 

pleura  was  discovered  to  be  filled  with  a  thick  serositj,  the 
quantity  of  which  might  be  about  two  pints;  the  pulmonary  and 
costal  portions  of  that  membrane  are  covered  with  soft  layers 
of  exudations,  more  abundant  in  the  posterior  portion  of  the 
cavity  than  in  the  anterior.  The  lung  strongly  drawn  back  on 
itself;  the  incisions  made  on  the  posterior  edge,  and  principal- 
ly on  the  superior  lobe,  exhibit  the  presence  of  pneumonia, 
whence  issues  a  sero-purulent  liquid,  whitish  in  some  places,  and 
grayish  in  others.  Several  points  of  the  anterior  edge  and  the 
inferior  lobe  are  yet  permeable  to  air,  and  crackling  ;  the  peri- 
cardium contains  about  three  or  four  ounces  of  limpid  serosity. 
The  posterior  face  of  the  heart  is  slightly  red,  and  presents 
several  small  portions  of  a  skinny  exudation.  Besides  this,  this 
organ  has  nothing  remarkable. 

"The  liver  is  of  ordinary  size;  the  superior  face  is  covered, 
towards  the  centre,  with  whitish  spots  which  do  not  spread  be- 
yond the  surface  of  the  organ;  the  biliary  gall-bladder  is  with- 
ered, and  of  a  whitish  color;  it  is  filled  with  biliary  calculi,  and 
contains  no  bile. 

"The  other  organs  have  not  been  examined." 

Here  follow  the  signatures.*  The  witnesses  are  all  living, 
and  hold  a  high  rank  in  the  medical  world.  Their  communica- 
tion has  been  interpreted  in  various  ways,  but  no  one  has  ever 
doubted  their  veracity. 

The  two  following  cases  have  been  reported  by  M.  Chardel, 
Counsellor  in  the  Court  of  Cassation,  who  received  them  from 
ocular  witnesses,  persons  of  respectability  and  integrity  : — 

Case  CIX.  A  magistrate,  and  counsellor  in  a  royal  court, 
related  to  me  the  following  anecdote  :  His  wife  had  an  attendant 
who  was  in  very  delicate  health.  She  magnetized  her,  and  put 
her  into  a  state  of  somnambulism.  It  was  done  privately,  as 
her  charitable  intentions  would  not  have  secured  her  from  ridi- 
cule. The  lady  was  assisted  by  her  husband.  On  one  occasion 
when  the  magnetic  treatment  had  been  accompanied  with  severe 
pain,  the  somnambulist  asked  for  some  old  wine  ;  the  husband 
took  a  light  and  went  below  for  the  purpose  of  obtaining  it.  He 
descended  the  first  flight  of  stairs  without  accident,  but  the 

*  Chardel,  Psychologie  physiologique,  Paris,  1844,  p.  260,  et  seq.,  and 
pp.  277,  278,  et  seq. 


256  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

cellar  was  deep  under  ground,  and  the  steps  were  moist;  he 
slipped  half  way  down,  and  fell  back  without  being  hurt  or  even 
extinguishing  the  light.  Having  procured  the  wine,  he  returned, 
when  he  found  his  wife  acquainted  with  his  fall  and  all  its  de- 
tails; the  somnambulist  had  related  them  as  they  occurred.* 

Case  CX.  I  knew  the  wife  of  a  colonel  in  the  cavalry,  who, 
being  magnetized  by  her  husband,  became  a  somnambulist  ; 
during  the  course  of  treatment,  an  indisposition  obliged  him  to 
call  to  his  assistance  an  officer  of  his  regiment.  Some  time  after, 
during  a  magnetic  sitting,  the  husband,  having  put  his  wife  into 
a  state  of  somnambulism,  desired  her  to  give  him  information  of 
that  officer:     "Ah!    the  unhappy  man!"  cried  she;     "I  see 

him  ;  he  is  at ;  he  is  on  the  point  of  killing  himself  ;  now 

he  points  the  pistol;  run  quickly."  The  place  indicated  was  a 
league  distant  ;  a  horseman  mounted  in  all  haste,  but  when  he 
arrived,  the  suicide  was  consummated. f 

We  have  confined  ourselves  to  these  three  cases  ;  they  are 
sufficient  to  establish  the  fact  that  persons  and  objects,  in  con- 
nection with  the  person  magnetized,  can  be  seen  by  him  under 
their  real  forms  ;  a  phenomenon  is  then  produced  similar  to  that 
we  have  seen  in  reverie,  dreams,  ecstasies,  and  in  cases  of  pre- 
vision and  presentiment  ;  in  a  word,  in  all  cases  of  hallucina- 
tions compatible  with  reason.  There  are,  doubtless,  other  pecu- 
liarities which  seem  to  exceed  natural  boundaries  ;  but  we  would 
here  be  somewhat  reserved  in  the  expression  of  our  opinion  ; 
and  whilst  admitting  the  plausibility  of  what  has  been  written  by 
many  of  our  brethren  on  the  power  of  the  imagination,  amongst 
others  by  Demangéon,f  we  at  the  same  time  do  not  hesitate 
to  express  a  belief  that  there  is  still  something  beyond,  and  that 
the  mind  must  necessarily  exercise  a  considerable  influence  on 
the  body,  for  the  very  simple  reason,  that  this,  in  its  turn,  can 
develop  extraordinary  properties.  Huygens  speaks  of  a  priso- 
ner at  Anvers,  who  could  read  written  characters  at  a  distance, 
where  they  could  be  seen  by  no  one  else.  At  one  of  the  last 
sittings  of  the  Academy  of  Inscriptions  and  Belles-Lettres,  M. 

*  Chardel,  Psychologie  physiologique,  Paris,  1844,  p.  290. 
t  Chardel,  op.  cit.  Paris,  1844,  p.  292. 

f  J.  B.  Demangeun,  De  l'Imagination,  2d  edition,  p.  39,  ch.  II.  1  vol.  in 
8vo.,  Paris,  1829. 


HALLUCINATIONS  IN  ECSTASY,  MAGNETISM,  SOMNAMBULISM.      257 

Vincent  communicated  a  paper,  full  of  interest  respecting  the 
son  of  Doctor  Paludilhe,  of  Montpellier,  a  young  child  of  seven 
years  old,  in  whom  the  development  of  the  musical  faculty  had 
reached  such  an  extraordinary  height,  that  he  may  be  considered 
as  a  living  sonometer  ;  moreover,  he  possesses  the  singular  and 
rare  faculty  of  distinguishing  the  melodious  character  of  a 
spoken  discourse,  firstly,  according  to  the  nature,  more  or  less 
musical,  of  the  voices  of  the  individuals  ;  secondly,  according  to 
the  character,  more  or  less  passionate,  of  the  discourse  itself.* 

We  may  then  consider  authentic  cases  of  clairvoyance,  of  pre- 
vision, and  of  second  sight,  recorded  in  works  on  magnetism,  as 
belonging  to  the  domain  of  hallucinations  ;  the  thoughts,  how- 
ever, are  tinted,  the  ideas  imaged,  the  mind,  in  a  word,  is 
clothed  in  its  material  envelop.  The  idea  that,  during  life,  the 
phenomenon  of  clairvoyance  should  be  spread  over  the  surface 
of  the  body,  and  above  all,  should  have  its  seat  in  the  epigas- 
trium, at  the  ends  of  the  fingers,  etc.,  is  not  supported  by  the 
laws  of  physiology.  The  senses  have  ever  possessed  distinct 
functions  ;  one  can  no  more  take  the  place  of  another,  than  it 
can  be  supplied  by  parts  that  have  not  the  slightest  affinity  to 
it,  either  in  form,  structure,  or  functions;  whilst  we  can  compre- 
hend that,  under  peculiar  circumstances,  they  may  acquire  quali- 
ties that  fill  us  with  astonishment.  The  phenomena  of  clair- 
voyance, prevision,  and  second  sight  depend  on  a  sudden  illumi- 
nation of  the  cerebral  organ,  which  calls  into  activity  sensations 
that  have  hitherto  lain  dormant.  Here  occurs  what  may  be  no- 
ticed in  natural  somnambulism,  under  the  influence  of  an  un- 
known cause.  The  individual  distinctly  sees  in  his  brain,  the 
stairs,  the  apartments,  and  the  places  through  which  he  walks  ; 
he  there  reads  the  characters  of  the  books  which  lie  before  him, 
and  of  letters  which  he  writes.  It  is  an  internal  mirror,  on 
which  all  his  impressions  are  received,  and  which  serves  as  a 
guide  to  his  conduct  ;  but  in  this  case,  the  action  is  based  on 
recollections  and  reminiscences  ;  for  should  the  individual  get 
into  a  strange  place,  he  totters  and  stumbles,  even  to  injuring 
himself.  In  artificial  somnambulism,  the  perceptions  are  clearer, 
better  defined,  indicate  a  more  perfect  isolation  and  a  greater 
activity  in  the  faculties.     How  does  this  happen  ?     We  know 

*  Débats,  10th  August,  1851. 

17 


258  ox  HALLUCINATIONS. 

not.  Do  we  know  any  better  what  passes  in  the  thousand  com- 
binations of  thought,  in  the  action  of  the  will  ?  Alas,  no. 
These  are  facts  that  must  be  admitted  ;  but  the  manner  of  their 
operation  will  probably  be  hidden  from  us  forever.  * 

We  read  in  the  records  of  animal  magnetism,  of  a  blind  lady, 
who,  in  her  sleep,  admirably  described  the  beauties  of  nature. 
Having  recovered  her  sight,  she  owned  that  nature,  during  sleep, 
was  much  more  beautiful  than  she  found  it  on  awaking. 

Recapitulation. — Ecstasy  being  the  result  of  the  highest 
degree  of  exaltation  of  mind,  is  eminently  favorable  to  the  pro- 
duction of  hallucinations,  but  even  on  that  account  it  cannot  be 
regarded  as  a  natural  state. 

The  extreme  concentration  of  thought  on  a  single  idea,  which 
is  the  peculiar  character  of  ecstasy,  is  liable  to  produce  a  painful 
state  of  body. 

Ecstasy  frequently  manifests  itself  in  contemplative  minds  ; 
but  it  is  also  observed  in  religious  persons  of  very  ordinary  in- 
tellect. 

All  epochs  of  profound  beliefs,  of  fanaticism,  or  of  great 
hopes  or  fears,  are  favorable  to  the  development  of  ecstasy. 

The  possessed  of  former  ages  were  evidently  ecstatics. 

The  phenomenon  of  ecstasy  existed  inthe  convulsed. 

The  inspired  of  different  sects  exhibited  ecstasy  in  a  high 
degree. 

Ecstasy  may  be  manifested  without  any  loss  of  reason  ;  it  is 
then  termed  physiological;  if  it  be  combined  with  a  disordered 
mind,  it  is  termed  morbid  ecstasy. 

It  is  frequently  difficult  to  fix  the  line  of  demarcation  between 
these  two  kinds. 

This  distinction  allows  of  two  separate  classes  of  ecstatic  hal- 
lucinists. 

Ecstasy  is  not  confined  to  those  of  riper  years  ;  it  has  been 
seen  in  children. 

Ecstasy  may  show  itself  in  cataleptic  hysteria,  and  mystic 
forms,  and  in  mania  and  monomania. 

There  is  no  age  in  which  cases  of  ecstasy  have  not  occurred, 
and,  according  to  the  strength  and  predominance  of  the  ideas, 
it  has  taken  the  form  of  an  epidemic. 

A  certain  number  of  nervous  conditions,  rejected  by  skepticism, 
because  they  cannot  be  explained,  such  as  prevision,  clairvoyance, 


HALLUCINATIONS  IN  ECSTASY,  MAGNETISM,  SOMNAMBULISM.      259 

second  sight,  magnetism,  and  somnambulism,  are  attached  to  ecs- 
tasy, of  which  they  are  only  varieties,  and  have  numerous  points 
of  affinity  with  hallucinations. 

We  cannot,  however,  rank  all  cases  of  prevision  with  the 
hallucinations  of  ecstasy  ;  there  are  some  which  appear  to 
spring  from  an  enlarged  faculty  of  perception,  a  supernatural 
intuition. 

The  hallucinations  of  ecstatics  of  cold  countries,  which  some 
have  classed  with  cases  of  second  sight,  appear  evidently  due 
to  the  influence  of  temperature.  The  form  observable  in  Lap- 
land depends  on  the  combined  effects  of  ecstasy,  alienation,  and 
temperature. 

The  hallucinations  of  natural  somnambulism  present  a  striking 
analogy  to  those  of  dreams  ;  they  differ  only  in  degree  and  in 
increased  energy  of  the  will. 

Imagination  then  presents  images  to  the  somnambulist  with  as 
much  clearness  as  in  dreams. 

The  hallucinations  of  sleep,  like  those  of  natural  somnambu- 
lism, may  incite  to  acts  involving  serious  responsibilities,  and 
leave  no  doubt  that  man  is  then  no  longer  master  of  his  will. 

There  is  reason  to  believe  that  visual  magnetic  sensations 
are  only  hallucinations. 


CHAPTER   XIII. 

OF  HALLUCINATIONS  IN  FEBRILE,  INFLAMMATORY,  ACUTE,  CHRONIC, 
AND  OTHER  MALADIES. 

Of  hallucinations  and  illusions  in  acute  delirium  and  brain  diseases — Congestion, 
arachnites,  encéphalites,  softening  of  the  brain,  cerebro-spinal  meningitis, 
etc. — Of  hallucinations  in  fever  ;  eifects  of  fever  on  the  imagination — Hallu- 
cinations in  typhoid,  typhus,  and  intermittent  fevers  —  Hallucinations  in 
diseases  of  the  digestive  and  biliary  passages — Parenchymatous  inflamma- 
tions may  be  combined  with  hallucinations  and  pneumonia  ;  hallucinations 
after  a  suppression — Hallucinations  in  gout,  disease  of  the  heart,  pellagra, 
and  chlorosis — Hallucinations  in  syncope  and  convalescence — Hallucinations 
from  atmospheric  influence — Hallucinations  may  precede  disease — Hallucina- 
tions in  the  last  stage  of  chronic  disease — Eecapitulation. 

SECT.  I.— OF  HALLUCINATIONS  IN  ACUTE  DELIRIUM  AND  DISEASES 
OF  THE  BRAIN. 

Acute  delirium,  called  by  some  acute  insaniti/,*  was  long 
confounded  with  cerebral  inflammations.  We,  in  accordance 
with  M.  Lélut,  have  separated  it  from  this  group  of  diseases,t 
and  we  are  thus  conducted,  by  a  natural  transition,  from  nerv- 
ous to  inflammatory  aflfections. 

Maniacal  excitement,  which  forms  one  of  the  characteristics 
of  acute  delirium,  leads  to  the  supposition  that  it  awakens 
fantastic  conceptions  and  sensorial  illusions  in  the  minds  of  the 
sufferers,  and  our  experience  confirms  the  idea. 

*  Le  délire  aigu  ;  folie  aiguë. 

t  Lélut,  Introduction  sur  la  valeur  des  alterations  de  l'encéphale  dans 
le  délire  aigu  et  dans  la  folie,  Paris,  1836. — Brierre  de  Boismont,  Du 
délire  aigu  qu'on  observe  dans  les  établissements  d'aliénés  (pamphlet 
read  in  the  Royal  Academy  of  Medicine  in  1842,  inserted  in  the  11th  vol. 
of  the  Mémoires  de  l' Académie,  and  honored  vrith  a  gold  medal  by  the 
Institute). — Art.  Délire  aigu,  bibliothèque  des  médecines  praticiens,  t.  ix. — 
Art.  Délire,  in  the  supplement  of  the  Dictionnaire  des  Dictionnaires  de 
Médecine,  1851,  p.  188.— Sandras,  Maladies  Nerveuses,  1851,  t.  i.  p.  569. 
On  a  form  of  disease  resembling  some  advanced  stages  of  mania  and 
fever,  by  Luther  V.  Bell,  M.  D.,  American  Journal  of  Insanity,  Oct.  1849. 


HALLUCINATIONS  IN  FEBRILE  AND  OTHER  MALADIES.       261 

Some  individuals  who  are  attacked  with  acute  delirium,  see 
persons  hiding  beneath  the  bed,  in  a  wardrobe,  etc.  ;  point  out 
and  desire  to  drive  them  away  ;  others  think  they  are  sur- 
rounded by  frogs  and  serpents,  who  try  to  kill  them.  Doubt- 
less, the  terror,  the  cries,  the  inclination  to  bite,  to  strike,  or  to 
throw  themselves  from  a  height,  which  are  remarked  in  a  num- 
ber of  these  persons,  are  caused  by  hallucinations  of  an  alarm- 
ing character.  This  is  also  observed  in  maniacs,  in  whom  it  is 
not  always  easy  to  discover  the  delusion  of  the  senses. 

The  nature  of  hallucinations  is  often  in  afl&nity,  in  this  deli- 
rium, with  the  habits,  character,  and  passions  of  the  individual. 
A  very  religious  young  lady  cried  continually,  "  I  am  surrounded 
with  devils  ;  begone,  Satan  ;  sweet  Jesus,  drive  him  away  !"  A 
young  student  persisted  in  entreating  that  the  water  which  sur- 
rounded his  bed  should  be  removed  ;  he  saw  it  gradually  mount- 
ing to  his  breast,  and  felt  almost  choked.  A  Protestant  minister, 
who  had  suffered  great  reverses  of  fortune,  was  seized  with  acute 
intermittent  delirium.  During  each  attack,  he  saw  sinister 
figures,  who  menaced  him  with  hell,  and  insulted  and  tormented 
him. 

Illusions  are  also  equally  common  in  acute  delirium.  The 
sick  take  those  who  surround  them  for  other  individuals  of  their 
acquaintance  ;  or  rather  it  appears  to  them  as  if  they  were 
transformed.  Illusions  of  taste  and  smell  are  also  noticed  in 
acute  delirium.  The  drinks  which  are  offered  to  these  patients 
are  often  rejected  with  horror,  because  they  pretend  that  they 
smell  of  smoke,  that  they  have  a  bad  taste,  or  that  they  are 
poison.  Others,  again,  we  have  seen  to  whom  the  drinks  had 
the  flavor  of  the  most  exquisite  wines,  and  who  went  into  a  sort 
of  ecstasy  on  tasting  them. 

SECT.  II.- OF  HALLUCINATIONS  IN  INFLAMMATORY  DISEASES,  AND 
IN  SEVERAL  OTHER  AFFECTIONS. 

Works  on  internal  pathology  contain  a  multitude  of  cases 
which  allow  of  no  doubt  of  the  existence  of  hallucinations  in 
ephemeral  and  severe  fevers,  inflammations  of  the  organs  in 
various  other  diseases,  convalescence,  abstinence,  etc.  We  have 
no  intention  to  run  through  the  list,  but  will  confine  ourselves 
to  several  examples  of  hallucinations  united  with  diseases.     Con- 


262  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

gestion,  or  excess  of  blood,  is  sometimes  accompanied  by  hallu- 
cinations. Broussais  reports  the  case  of  a  young  woman,  aged 
19,  who,  near  the  term  of  her  pregnancy,  experienced  giddiness 
whilst  at  her  work,  saw  flambeaux,  a  coffin,  and  a  large  dog  ap- 
proaching to  devour  her.  This  woman  showed  every  symptom 
of  plethora  ;  an  application  of  leeches  was  prescribed  ;  the  means 
were  sufficient  to  dispel  the  casualties  ;  and  the  young  woman, 
who  was  a  prey  to  a  loquacious  delirium  of  a  singularly  merry 
character,  was  quickly  restored  to  reason.* 

Case  CXI.  A  man,  in  a  healthy  state  of  mind,  was  seated  in 
his  room.  To  his  great  astonishment  the  door  opened,  and  one 
of  his  friends  entered,  who,  having  walked  several  times  round 
it,  stood  before  him  and  gazed  upon  him  fixedly.  Wishing  to 
receive  his  visitor  with  politeness,  he  arose,  but  had  only  ad- 
vanced a  few  steps  when  the  figure  vanished.  He  then  knew  it 
was  a  vision.  The  apparition  soon  reappeared  ;  it  was  accom- 
panied by  several  more  of  his  friends,  who  all  surrounded  him 
Avith  the  same  fixed  look.  In  a  quarter  of  an  hour  the  assembly 
was  so  great  that  the  apartment  appeared  too  small  to  contain 
them.  These  phantoms  followed  him  into  his  bedroom,  and 
ranged  themselves  around  his  bed,  so  that  he  had  much  difficulty 
in  getting  a  few  hours'  sleep.  On  his  awaking  they  reappeared, 
and  the  room  was  soon  as  well  filled  as  before. 

This  condition  continuing  throughout  the  day,  he  consulted 
his  physician,  who  recollected  having  bled  him  a  year  previously 
for  a  congestion  of  the  brain.  He  had  also  been  several  times 
distressed  by  hemorrhoidal  tumors.  Bleeding  by  leeches  was 
advised  ;  on  the  following  day,  the  phantoms  were  much  fewer, 
and  also  less  active.    By  night,  they  had  entirely  disappeared.f 

Several  authors  have  described  the  existence  of  hallucinations 
on  the  approach  of  apoplexy.  "We  cannot,"  says  Arétée, 
"  hear  without  astonishment  the  remarks  sometimes  made  by 
those  who  are  threatened  with  apoplexy.  All  their  senses  are 
perfect  and  entire,  and  their  minds  seem  to  have  acquired  a 
prophetic  character.  Their  first  idea  is  that  they  are  about  to 
quit  the  world  ;  then  they  predict  the  future  by  the  present  ; 
and,  the  event  justifying  their  prediction,  they  are  looked  upon 

*  Phlegm.  Chron.  t.  ii.  p.  421-422. 
t  Hibbort,  oj).  cit. 


HALLUCINATIONS  IN  FEBRILE  AND  OTHER  MALADIES.       263 

as  real  prophets.  I  saw  one  who  was  prophesying  his  decease 
for  six  days."* 

Inflammation  of  the  membranes  of  the  brain  likewise  occasions 
this  phenomenon.  Messrs.  Martinet  and  Parent  Duchatelet  have 
numbered  5  cases  out  of  the  102  contained  in  their  work  (see 
cases  14,  24,  25).  The  treatise  on  Inflammation  of  the  Brain 
by  Mons.  Eouillard  (p.  8,  66,  and  86),  contains  some  curious 
cases  of  hallucinations  of  smell,  and  illusions  of  sight  and  touch. 

Morgagni  mentions  a  man  who,  working  at  night  in  a  cess- 
pool attached  to  a  hospital,  had  an  hallucination  in  which  he  saw 
a  spectre  clothed  in  white.  On  his  death,  which  quickly  super- 
vened, it  was  discovered  that  he  had  a  venous  congestion  and  a 
softening  of  the  brain. 

In  cerebro-spinal  epidemic  meningitis,f  hallucinations  are 
numerous.  M.  Tourdes,  author  of  a  history  of  this  epidemic, 
has  mentioned  several  curious  examples. J 

Dr.  Alderson,  of  Halle,  has  reported  an  interesting  case  of 
hallucinations  joined  to  a  violent  cephalalgia  and  inflammation 
of  the  teguments. 

CaseCXII.  "Some  months  ago,"  says  the  author,  "I  attended 
M.  R.,  who  had  been  attacked,  during  a  voyage  from  America, 
with  violent  headache.  He  was  relieved  by  the  formation  of  an 
abscess  beneath  the  teguments  of  the  skull  ;  his  breathing  was 
somewhat  afl"ected  by  other  tumors,  which  had  formed  in  the 
throat.  He  complained  of  having  fatiguing  dreams,  and  even 
of  dreaming  when  awake.  A  short  time  afterwards,  he  told 
me  that,  for  the  space  of  an  hour  or  two,  he  thought  he  saw  his 
wife  and  family,  although  convinced  by  his  reason  that  they 
were  in  America.  The  impression  on  his  mind  was  so  strong, 
and  the  conversation  he  had  held  with  his  son  so  circumstantial 
and  important,  that  he  could  not  resist  telling  it  in  all  its  details 
to  his  friends  on  the  following  day.  He  also  desired  to  be  in- 
formed if  his  wife  and  family  had  not  arrived  from  America, 
and  whether  they  Avere  not  in  the  same  house. 

*  Borden,  Récherches  théo.  sur.  les  maladies  chroniques,  p.  326,  et  seq., 
edit,  of  the  year  IX. 

t  See  the  article  Méningite  Cérebro-Spinale,  by  M.  Boudin  in  the  Sup- 
plement of  the  Dictionnaire  des  Dictionnaires  de  Médecine,  1851,  pp.  427  to 
444. 

X  Histoire  de  l'Epid.  de  Méning.  Cereb.  Spinale,  Strasbourg,  1843. 


264  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

"I  was  sent  for  a  second  time  ;  lie  quickly  perceived  that  he 
was  considered  deranged  ;  when,  turning  towards  me,  he  in- 
quired if  his  disease  could  induce  a  belief  in  spectres,  appari- 
tions, and  figures.  'Until  now,'  said  he,  'I  had  no  faith  in  all 
the  stories  of  this  character.'  He  knew  that  he  was  perfectly 
sane,  and  his  friends  also  acknowledged  him  to  be  so,  with 
a  mind  as  strong  as  it  had  ever  been. 

"Having  explained  to  him  the  nature  and  causes  of  his 
visions,  and  told  him  that  they  would  cease  with  his  bodily  suffer- 
ings, both  he  and  his  friends  grew  composed.  But  the  phan- 
toms became  more  and  more  importunate,  until  he  could  not 
make  up  his  mind  to  retire  to  rest,  because  he  was  immediately 
harassed  by  the  souls  of  the  dead,  or  visited  by  persons  dis- 
agreeable to  him.  Having  changed  his  room,  the  visions  ceased 
for  some  time;  but  he  soon  perceived  his  friends  of  the  new 
world  pictured  on  a  piece  of  polished  metal. 

"Designedly  occupying  myself  with  a  book,  I  detected  him 
mentally  conversing  with  them,  and  at  times  evidently  imagining 
that  I  also  saw  and  heard  them.  When  he  looked  away  from 
the  polished  bar,  he  talked  sensibly  on  religion,*  medicine,  and 
politics.  At  length  he  changed  his  residence,  when  the  purulent 
matter  being  discharged,  his  condition  was  ameliorated.  He  is 
now  convalescent,  and  entirely  relieved  of  his  phantoms."* 

Fever,  by  the  sanguine  cerebral  afflux  which  it  produces,  or 
of  which  it  is  the  result  by  the  nervous  diseases  it  occasions, 
plays  an  important  part  in  the  production  of  hallucinations.  It 
is  most  generally  accompanied  by  wakefulness.  When  it  has 
lasted  for  some  time,  the  patient,  worn  out,  falls  asleep,  but  he 
is  soon  wakened  up,  with  horrible  dreams  that  wear  all  the 
character  of  reality.  The  different  effects  of  light  and  shadow, 
or  the  arrangement  of  the  draperies,  all  unite  to  create  in  his 
disturbed  imagination  apparent  forms,  which,  at  first,  are  scarcely 
distinguishable  ;  but  which  soon  become  to  him  realities,  and  are 
the  preludes  to  an  incoherent  and  continuous  delirium. 

Case  CXIII.  "  I  attended,"  says  Abercrombie,  "  a  very  intelli- 
gent man,  Avho  had  been  sick  for  some  time  with  a  slight  fever. 
Although  his  reason  was  unimpaired,  he  was  subject  to  a  fre- 
quent hallucination,  which  consisted  in  the  appearance  of  an  old 

*  Edinburgh  Medical  and  Surgical  Journal,  vol.  vi.  p.  291. 


HALLUCINATIONS  IN  FEBRILE  AND  OTHER  MALADIES.       265 

gray-headed  man,  with  a  countenance  of  great  benevolence.  The 
vision  always  occurred  in  the  same  manner.  The  phantom  en- 
tered the  room  by  a  door  on  the  left  side  of  the  bed,  passed 
round  the  foot,  and  came  and  sat  on  a  chair  on  the  right-hand 
side.  He  looked  on  the  sick  man  with  an  air  of  interest  and 
pity,  but  never  spoke.  Having  remained  thus  for  a  few  minutes, 
he  vanished." 

Case  CXIV.  "A  lady,"  continues  the  same  author,  "also 
affected  slightly  with  fever,  perceived  a  large  party  of  men  and 
women  in  her  room,  seated  as  at  a  soirée,  and  a  servant  handing 
refreshments  to  them  on  a  waiter.  The  hallucination  lasted 
during  several  days,  and  was  varied  by  the  sight  of  castles  and 
very  beautiful  churches,  which  appeared  as  if  cut  in  crystal. 
From  the  commencement,  the  lady  was  aware  that  it  was  an 
illusion  of  sight,  incident  to  the  fever,  and  amused  her  friends 
by  describing  the  different  objects  that  passed  before  her." 

Conolly,  who  has  very  carefully  studied  the  effects  of  fever 
on  the  imagination,  has  adopted  three  degrees  of  impressions 
which  result  from  it. 

In  the  first,  the  patient  seems  to  see  the  bed  surrounded  with 
flames,  hears  voices  murmuring  in  his  ear,  inhales  the  odor  of  a 
feast  ;  his  body  feels  the  sensation  of  heavy  weights  moving 
over  it.  Fantastic  figures  incessantly  pass  before  his  eyes, 
which  disappear  as  rapidly  as  they  come. 

If  patients  of  this  character  are  questioned,  some  very  calmly 
acknowledge  that  they  do  experience  the  symptoms  stated; 
others,  on  the  contrary,  seem  confused,  make  a  thousand  excuses 
before  acknowledging  what  they  feel;  it  is  evident  that  they  are 
endeavoring  to  get  rid  of  some  importunate  idea;  others,  again, 
believe  in  the  reality  of  all  these  sensations.  Of  these  three 
classes,  the  last  is  a  prey  to  delirium,  the  second  approximates 
to  it  ;  the  first  alone  has  reason.  What  is  the  cause  of  these 
slight  differences? 

The  first  compare  received  sensations  with  surrounding  objects, 
appealing  to  their  senses  whose  integrity  is  preserved.  They 
recognize  their  chamber,  their  family,  their  physician.  As  to 
the  figures  which  glide  about,  they  are  conscious  that  they  do 
not  exist.  They  recollect  that  they  have  been  ill  for  some  days, 
and  have  had  a  fever.  Comparing  present  objects  and  things 
which  they  recollect,  with  the  succession  of  figures  that  appear 


266  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

before  them,  or  the  sounds  which  they  think  they  have  heard, 
they  become  convinced  that  these  sensations  are  only  creations 
of  a  disturbed  mind. 

The  next  class  approximates  closer  to  delirium  ;  on  awaking, 
the  sight  of  their  curtains  in  flames,  terrifies  them  ;  they  seize 
hold  of  them  and  look  anxiously  around,  but  the  sense  of  touch, 
and  the  tranquillity  of  their  attendants,  gives  them  reason  to 
believe  that  this  phenomenon  is  a  symptom  of  the  disease.  If 
they  are  spoken  to  at  the  moment  of  awaking,  the  voice  address- 
ing them  is  confounded  wùth  the  images  of  the  dream;  but  they 
open  their  eyes,  look  at  you,  take  your  hand,  and  in  comparing 
the  sensation  that  present  things  awaken  with  those  which  they 
have  seen  in  their  troubled  dreams,  they  quickly  come  to  them- 
selves. 

This  kind  of  disorder  usually  lasts  some  hours  or  days.  If 
it  augments,  the  objects  assume  a  more  decided  and  constant 
form,  and  delirium  may  supervene. 

A  poor  woman  in  very  feeble  health,  complained  in  the  dis- 
pensary at  Stratford,  that  she  constantly  saw  faces  and  figures 
cut  in  half.  Sometimes  these  apparitions  appeared  in  a  crowd, 
resembling  a  number  of  heads  eagerly  looking  in  at  the  door  or 
window. 

Patients  of  the  third  class  are  governed  by  the  images  that 
harass  them  ;  they  cannot  give  their  attention  to  the  sensations 
which  proceed  from  objects  that  are  present  ;  they  continue  to  talk 
to  persons  whom  they  imagine  near  to  them,  and  do  not  recog- 
nize the  voices  of  their  friends  ;  their  eyes  are  turned  towards 
them,  but  they  have  apparently  assumed  other  forms  and  faces  ; 
they  look  around  the  room,  and  think  themselves  in  a  strange 
place.  In  this  state,  it  is  impossible  for  them  to  compare  the 
true  sensations,  which  they  are  incapable  of  receiving,  with  the 
false  ones  which  they  alone  recognize.  They  cannot  compare 
what  they  see  with  what,  in  their  febrile  condition,  they  have 
forgotten,  and  the  necessary  consequence  of  this  defect  is  deli- 
rium or  active  insanity. 

In  the  case  of  fever,  says  Conolly,  I  have  several  times  seen 
these  three  states  vary  from  one  to  the  other,  according  as  the 
disease  progressed  and  the  integrity  of  sensation  was  lost  ;  on 
the  other  hand,  as  the  disease  diminished,  the  patient  recovered 


HALLUCINATIONS  IN  FEBRILE  AND  OTHER  MALADIES.       267 

his  power  over  his  senses,  and  it  often  required  but  very  slight 
efforts  to  fix  his  attention.* 

Several  times  in  the  course  of  typhoid  fever,  we  have  con- 
cluded that  the  sick  had  visions.  This  did  not  escape  the  no- 
tice of  Hibbert.  Hallucinations  have  been  seen  in  all  stages  of 
this  fever  and  during  convalescence.  The  author  of  U  Observa- 
teur Chrétien,  quoted  by  Abercrombie,  relates  that  a  farmer, 
returning  from  market,  was  much  struck  by  an  uncommonly 
brilliant  light,  which  appeared  on  the  road,  in  the  midst  of 
which  stood  the  Saviour.  Seized  with  fear,  he  struck  spurs  into 
his  horse,  galloped  home,  and  was  much  agitated  during  the 
whole  evening.  Symptoms  of  a  typhoid  fever  that  was  raging 
in  the  neighborhood  appeared,  and  he  died  in  ten  days.  It  was 
recollected  that  on  the  morning  of  the  day  on  which  he  saw  the 
vision,  he  had  complained  of  bad  headache  and  great  lassitude  ; 
there  is  no  doubt  that  the  hallucination  was  caused  by  the  fever. 

In  the  same  author  we  read  the  account  of  a  man,  who  on  re- 
covering from  the  typhoid  fever,  imagined  himself  ten  feet  in 
height.  His  bed  appeared  to  be  raised  seven  or  eight  feet  from 
the  ground,  so  that  he  felt  afraid  to  step  out  of  it.  The  aper- 
ture of  the  chimney,  likewise,  seemed  to  him  as  large  as  the 
arch  of  a  bridge.  By  a  singular  contradiction,  the  persons 
about  him  appeared  to  retain  their  natural  size.  But  the  most 
curious  cases  are  those  furnished  by  illusions  of  the  sight. 

The  appearance  of  phantoms  in  severe  fevers  were  observed 
by  the  ancients.  How  many  deliriums,  says  Hippocrates,  occur 
in  ataxical  and  adynamic  fevers,  accompanied  by  frightful  spec- 
tres, which  announce  ruin  in  the  animal  economy,  and  impending 
destruction  If 

Moreau  de  la  Sarthe  relates,  in  the  Eiicyclopédie  3Iêthodique 
(art.  3Iêd.  Mentale),  his  having  attended  a  child  of  twelve  or 
thirteen  years  of  age,  who,  although  scarcely  acquainted  with 
the  first  rudiments  of  Latin,  was  suddenly  capable,  during  a 
raging  fever,  of  speaking  it  in  the  greatest  purity.  The  same 
child  expressed  his  gratitude  to  those  who  attended  him,  in  lan- 
guage superior  to  his  age  and  the  supposed  power  of  his  intel- 
lect.    He  died  some  days  afterwards. 

*  Conolly,  oj).  cit. 

t  Abercrombie,  op.  cit.  p.  63. 


268  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

Mr.  Rayer  speaks  of  having  attended  one  of  our  most  illus- 
trious men,  who  was  attacked  with  typhoid.  For  seven  or  eight 
days,  he  saw  the  figure  of  a  man,  at  the  foot  of  his  bed,  whom 
he  endeavored  to  drive  away.  The  phantom  had  no  repulsive 
appearance  ;  it  only  annoyed  him  by  its  presence.  On  his  re- 
covery, it  entirely  disappeared.  Br.  Marotte  has  related  an 
analogous  case. 

In  two  instances,  we  have  noticed  the  fever  to  be  followed  by 
insanity,  but  we  did  not  observe  the  hallucinations.  M.  Szaf- 
kowski  noted,  in  1845,  in  the  arrondissement  of  Milan  (Avey- 
ron),  a  deadly  epidemic  of  typhoid  fever,  with  a  predominance 
of  ataxical  symptoms,  accompanied  with  hallucinations  of  sight 
and  hearing.* 

English  authors  who  have  written  on  the  fevers  of  Cadiz  and 
Malaga,  say,  that  the  sick  persons  became  insensible  to  external 
agencies,  which  were  replaced  by  a  new  world  of  ideas,  of  the 
most  terrible  description.  Hideous  spectres,  the  forerunners  of 
coma  and  death,  appeared  to  them.  Hallucinations  have  often 
been  noticed  in  the  typhus  peculiar  to  armies,  in  pestilential 
fevers,  and  in  several  epidemics  of  the  Middle  Ages,  which  may 
be  termed  mixed  typhus,  because  they  appear  to  have  been  de- 
veloped under  the  influence  of  human  miasma  and  that  arising 
from  marshy  land.  Thucydides,  the  historian  of  the  plague 
of  Athens,  speaks  of  the  spectres  which  terrified  the  inhabi- 
tants. This  plague  is  classed  by  modern  authors  with  the 
great  typhus.  Procopius  speaks  of  men  who,  in  the  time  of 
the  plague  perished,  victims  of  this  scourge,  from  having 
dreamed  that  the  demons  touched  them,  or  had  told  them  that 
they  would  shortly  die.  In  the  epidemic  that  unpeopled  Neo 
Cesarea,  the  inhabitants  saw  phantoms  enter  their  houses.  Dur- 
ing a  pest  that  broke  out  in  Egypt,  in  the  time  of  the  Em- 
peror Justinian,  brass  boats  were  seen  on  the  sea,  rowed  by 
black  men  without  heads.  And  in  an  epidemic  which  depopulated 
Constantinople,  the  inhabitants  saw  with  horror,  demons,  who, 
clad  as  priests,  went  from  house  to  house,  carrying  death  where- 
soever they  entered. 

Hildebrand  published  a  valuable  treatise  on  this  malady  ;  its 
chief  defect  is,  that  it  was  not  written  at  a  period  when  the  study 

*  Op.  cit.  p.  134. 


HALLUCINATIONS  IN  FEBRILE  AND  OTHER  MALADIES.      269 

of  pathological  anatomy  was  cultivated;  he  has  given  very 
important  details  respecting  delirium  in  ague  fits,  which  he  calls 
typhomania  ;  many  observations  leave  no  doubt  that  hallucina- 
tions and  illusions  exhibit  themselves  during  this  severe  disease. 

A  pupil  of  this  celebrated  physician  was  attacked  with  con- 
tagious typhus.  During  a  delirium  of  seven  days,  he  imagined 
that  he  had  to  play  the  part  of  viper-eater,  a  character  which 
he  had  seen  a  short  time  previously  in  an  opera  called  the  3Iiroir 
iTAreadie.  He  fell  into  a  terrible  state  of  anguish  and  terror, 
dilBcult  to  be  described,  whenever  he  felt  compelled  to  seize 
and  swallow  this  dangerous  reptile.* 

In  more  recent  descriptions  of  the  army  typhus,  hallucina- 
tions of  sight  are  also  noticed.  This  symptom  was  frequently 
combined  with  the  typhus  of  Mayence. 

Hallucinations  have  often  been  observed  to  accompany  inter- 
mittent fevers,  which  disease  has  been  considered  by  modern 
authors  sometimes  to  occasion  insanity,  f 

Nicolai,  the  famous  librarian  of  Berlin,  whose  case  has  already 
been  noticed  in  this  work,  was  attacked,  in  1778,  with  an  inter- 
mittent fever,  during  which  colored  figures,  or  landscapes,  ap- 
peared to  him.  If  he  closed  his  eyes,  the  imaginary  objects 
vanished,  but  reappeared  on  opening  them. J 

A  derangement  of  the  digestive  organs,  by  reacting  on  the 
brain  and  its  membranes,  has  often  given  rise  to  hallucinations. 
This  is  also  the  case  with  congestion,  and  inflammation  of  the 
organs.  It  is  easily  understood  that  the  circumstances  which 
produce  this  delirium  in  one  person  may,  in  another  case,  give 
rise  to  false  sensations. 

In  gastritis,  gastro-enteritis,  gastrology,  and  gastro-enterology, 
illusions  of  taste  and  smell  are  frequent,  and  many  persons 
thus  affected  have  very  decided  hallucinations. 

Doctor  Hungerford  Sealy  has  published  a  pamphlet  on  a 
bilious  disease  common  to  hot  countries,  which  is  characterized 
by  great  irritability,  accompanied  by  mental  excitement  and 

*  Hildebrand,  Du  typhus  contagieux,  translated  from  the  German. 

t  M.  Baillarger,  De  la  folie  dans  les  fièvres  intermittentes,  Ann,  Méd. 
Psych.,  November,  1843. 

X  Th.  Sébastien,  Remarques  sur  la  mélancholie  et  la  manie  suite  de 
fièvres  intermittentes. — Journal  d' Eu  f  eland,  1821  ;  Ann.  Méd.  Psych.,  Sept. 
1844,  p.  211. 


270  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

extraordinary  muscular  power  ;  it  chiefly  attacks  those  who, 
having  been  in  a  foreign  country  for  two  or  three  years,  begin 
to  feel  the  attacks  of  nostalgia.  The  mind  is  disturbed  by 
visions  ;  the  imagination  is  over-excited  ;  the  judgment  still  pre- 
serves some  power  over  the  imagination,  which  has,  however, 
much  difficulty  in  obeying  it. 

Amongst  the  examples  which  he  gives,  we  will  choose  that  of 
the  English  minister  at  Messina.  When  Mr.  Hungerford  Sealy 
called  upon  him,  he  found  him  looking  wild,  with  eyes  yellow, 
and  starting  from  their  sockets  ;  the  skin  was  dry,  parched,  and 
discolored  ;  the  tongue  dry  and  red  on  the  edges,  with  a  brown 
spot  in  the  centre  and  at  the  back  ;  the  pulse  small  and  quick  ; 
he  had  been  in  this  state  for  three  weeks.  Mr.  Hungerford 
Sealy  gave  him  purgatives,  applied  leeches  to  the  neck,  mustard 
plasters  to  the  feet,  and  his  symptoms  were  rapidly  ameliorated. 

During  the  progress  of  the  disease,  the  hallucinations  bore  a 
striking  analogy  to  the  clairvoyance  of  magnetism  ;  they  were 
of  a  frightful  character.  His  principal  idea  was  to  tear  to  pieces 
whatever  was  near  to  him,  to  cry,  to  sing,  and  to  swear.  He 
thought  he  saw  his  limbs  part  from  his  body;  he  was  persuaded 
of  the  delusion  of  his  vision,  and  attributed  it  to  a  diseased  im- 
agination. The  hallucination,  however,  had  such  an  air  of  truth 
that  it  was  with  the  greatest  difficulty  he  could  persuade  himself 
of  its  error.  The  seat  of  the  disease  was  evidently  in  the  biliary 
system  and  the  mucous  membrane  of  the  intestines,  which  was 
proved  by  the  success  of  the  treament.* 

In  the  fifteenth  volume  of  Wilson  s  Philosophical  Journal, 
there  is  a  curious  case  of  hallucinations,  which  occurred  during 
an  attack  of  pneumonia. 

Case  CXV.  "About  twelve  years  ago,"  says  the  author, 
"  I  had  an  attack  of  fever,  brought  on  by  a  violent  inflammation 
of  the  left  lung,  from  a  cold  taken  in  the  great  thaw  of  1795. 
The  pulse  beat  110  in  a  minute,  and  the  complaint,  which  lasted 
for  several  weeks,  was  accompanied  during  its  whole  course  by 
disordered  perception.  On  the  first  night  following  the  attack 
of  fever,  I  had  a  fatiguing  dream  ;  it  seemed  to  me  that  I  was 

*  Observations  on  a  peculiar  Nervous  Affection  incident  to  Travellers  in 
Sicily  and  Southern  Italy,  by  J.  Hungerford  Sealy,  M.  D. — Medico- Chirur- 
gical lîeview,  July,  1844. 


HALLUCINATIONS  IN  FEBRILE  AND  OTHER  MALADIES.      271 

in  the  midst  of  an  immense  system  of  mechanical  combinations, 
every  part  of  which  turned  round  with  great  noise  and  extreme 
rapidity  ;  at  the  same  time,  I  had  an  idea  that  the  object  of  all 
this  bewildering  operation  was  to  cure  my  sickness.  "When  my 
agitation  had  reached  a  certain  point  I  awoke  with  a  start,  then 
fell  off  to  sleep  again,  to  have  my  dream  renewed.  These  alter- 
natives having  occurred  several  times,  I  thought  that  if  I  could 
destroy  the  existing  impression  the  form  of  the  dream  would 
change.  It  appeared  to  me  that  the  best  chance  of  success  would 
be  to  link  some  visible  object  with  the  idea  of  the  cure.  My 
eiforts  were  successful  ;  for,  in  the  next  attack,  a  bottle,  which  I 
had  fixed  in  my  mind,  presented  itself;  the  rotation  ceased,  and 
my  dreams,  although  disturbed  by  incongruous  ideas,  were  more 
varied  and  less  painful. 

"  The  medical  treatment  consisted  in  applications  of  leeches 
to  the  side  affected,  bleeding,  and  saline  mixtures. 

"  The  second  night  was  one  of  great  restlessness  ;  accompanied 
with  drowsiness,  and  strange  and  inconsistent  dreams,  in  which 
it  was  difficult  to  distinguish  sleeping  from  waking,  but  which 
did  not  leave  the  same  inquietude  of  mind  which  had  augmented 
the  sufferings  of  the  preceding  night.  In  the  morning  the  sen- 
sations had  undergone  a  notable  change  ;  the  real  impressions 
produced  by  surrounding  objects  took  the  place  of  the  phantoms. 
Perfectly  awake,  calm,  with  the  entire  use  of  memory  and  rea- 
son, conversing  with  my  attendants,  and  distinguishing  clearly 
exterior  objects,  I  was  charmed  by  a  succession  of  figures,  which 
my  will  could  neither  prevent,  retain,  nor  drive  away. 

"  Sometimes  they  appeared  suddenly  ;  but  most  generally 
approached  gradually,  as  if  emerging  from  a  cloud  before  show- 
ing themselves  in  all  their  splendor.  Each  figure  was  visible 
for  the  space  of  five  or  six  seconds  ;  it  then  vanished  slowly, 
until  there  remained  nothing  but  an  opaque  and  dark  vapor,  in 
the  midst  of  which  another  figure  was  almost  immediately  formed  ; 
they  all  interested  me  in  the  highest  degree  by  the  beauty  of 
their  forms  and  the  variety  of  their  expressions. 

"  Their  attention  was  uniformly  fixed  upon  me,  although  none 
of  them  spoke.  I  thought  I  could  look  into  the  souls  that  ani- 
mated these  amiable  and  intelligent  countenances.  The  admira- 
tion, the  sentiment  of  joy  and  aJBfection  which  I  experienced  in 
contemplating  them,  and  the  regret  that  I  felt  when  each  one 


272  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

vanished,  entirely  riveted  my  attention  ;  and  this  condition  was 
only  interrupted  when  I  spoke  to  the  persons  in  my  chamber. 

"  A  particular  medicine  which  I  took  caused  these  visions  to 
cease  suddenly.  I  do  not  know  for  how  long  a  time  they  ceased  ; 
but  they  returned  under  the  form  of  books,  parchments,  and 
printed  papers.  I  seem  to  recollect  that  these  were  illegible,  or 
that  they  appeared  and  vanished  instantaneously." 

"  These  were  all  illusions  of  sight;  once,  indeed,  I  heard  mu- 
sical sounds,  and,  shortly  afterwards  falling  asleep,  an  animal 
jumped  upon  my  back,  uttering  such  shrill  and  piercing  cries 
that  my  sleep  was  entirely  broken."* 

Hallucinations  have  been  attendant  on  a  suppression  of  the 
hemorrhoidal  flux.  We  read  the  following  in  the  Archives  de 
Médecine  : — 

Case   CXVI.  A  gentleman  of  Carlsruhe,  in  Silesia,  forty 
years  of  age,  sound  in  mind,  of  mature  judgment,  and  entirely 
free  from  superstition,  enjoyed  habitual  good  health,  excepting 
that  he  was  subject  to  the  colic  and  hemorrhoidal  flux  ;  a  cataract 
had  formed  in  one  eye,  and  the  sight  of  the  other  was  much  en- 
feebled. He  was  one  day  much  alarmed  by  a  fire  which  occurred  in 
a  house  adjoining  his  own.    On  the  evening  of  that  day,  his  wife 
remarked  that   he  was  restless,  and  asked   strange  questions. 
Towards  six  o'clock,  when  the  candles  were  lighted,  he  very 
seriously  told  her  that  his  mother  had  entered  the  room,  and 
had  taken  him  by  the  hand,  but  retired  when  he  was  about  rising 
to  receive  her.     He  farther  said  that  she  was  accompanied  by 
her  husband  and  three  persons  whom  he   did  not  know.     He 
then  went  to  supper  in  a  room  above  the  one  in  which  he  usually 
sat,  took  his  repast,  and  returned  to  the  lower  room,  still  accom- 
panied by  the  vision.     Covering  his  head  with  the  bedclothes, 
he  slept  quietly.     On  the  following  day,  a  novel  illusion  took 
place  ;  the  walls  of  his  room  were  all  over  black  and  white 
squares  like  a  chess-board,  and  so  powerful  was  the  illusion  that 
he  spoiled  several  engravings  that  hung  around  his  apartment. 
After  continuing  thus  for  two  days,  his  sight  returned  to  its 
natural  condition.     He  then   complained  a  little  of  weakness 
and  vertigo.     His  sleep,  pulse,  and  appetite  were  good.     Some 

*  Paterson,  oj).  cit. 


HALLUCINATIONS  IN  FEBRILE  AND  OTHER  MALADIES.        273 

laxatives,  foot-baths,  followed  by  tincture  of  quinia,  brought  a 
return  of  the  hemorrhoids,  and  entirely  cured  him.* 

The  most  diverse  affections  may,  under  circumstances  impos- 
sible for  us  to  appreciate,  occasion  hallucinations.  From  the 
following  case,  which  we  borrow  from  Dr.  Alderston,  it  is  evident 
that  they  may  occur  in  gout. 

Case  CXVII.  "I  was  called  in,"  says  that  physician,  "to 

Mrs.  ,  a   lady  eighty  years    of   age,   whom   I  had   often 

attended  for  the  gout.  She  complained  of  unusual  deafness, 
with  a  great  distension  of  the  digestive  organs,  and  was  expect- 
ing an  attack.  Notwithstanding  her  great  age,  this  lady  enjoyed 
good  health.  She  confided  to  me  that  for  some  time  past  she 
had  been  disturbed  by  visions.  The  first  time  that  she  noticed 
the  occurrence,  she  believed  that  several  uninvited  friends 
visited  her.  Having  recovered  her  first  surprise,  she  evinced 
some  regret  at  not  being  able  to  converse  with  them,  and  was 
about  to  give  orders  to  have  a  card-table  set.  For  this  purpose 
she  rang  the  bell.  On  the  entrance  of  the  servant,  all  the 
party  disappeared.  The  lady  expressed  much  surprise  at  |heir 
abrupt  departure,  and  the  servant  had  great  difiiculty  in  con- 
vincing her  that  no  one  had  been  in  the  room. 

"She  felt  so  ashamed  of  the  illusion  that  for  several  days 
and  nights  she  suffered,  in  silence,  the  appearance  of  a  consider- 
able number  of  phantoms,  some  of  which  represented  long  lost 
friends,  and  revived  thoughts  almost  entirely  effaced.  The 
lady  contented  herself  with  ringing  the  bell,  when  the  entrance 
of  the  servant  rid  her  of  their  presence. 

"  It  was  some  time  before  she  could  make  up  her  mind  to  con- 
fide her  sufferings  to  me.  There  was  nothing  either  in  her  conver- 
sation or  conduct  to  indicate  a  derangement  of  intellect,  and 
she,  as  well  as  her  friends,  was  convinced  of  her  perfect  sanity. 

"  The  affection  was  relieved  by  plasters  on  the  feet,  and  mild 
medicines,  and  was  shortly  afterwards  entirely  cured  by  a  regular 
attack  of  gout.  Since  that  time,  both  her  reason  and  health 
have  been  good."t 

*  Archives  Générales  de  Médecine,  1824,  t,  xix.  p.  202,  Hufeland's 
Journal,  Sept.  1824,  and  Edinburgh  Medical  and  Surgical  Journal,  April, 
1828. 

t  Edinburgh  Medical  and  Surgical  Journal,  vol.  vi.  p.  291. 
18 


274  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

All  physicians  have  noted  the  state  of  restlessness,  inquie- 
tude, melancholy,  and  terror,  brought  on  by  diseases  of  the  heart. 
Persons  thus  affected,  often  wake  up  with  a  start,  being  pursued 
by  frightful  spectres,  and  hideous  phantoms.  This  disposition 
of  mind  often  occurs  during  the  day.  We  have  collected  several 
cases  of  hallucinations  coincident  with  an  organic  lesion  of  the 
heart. 

M.  Saucerotte  has  published  several  similar  cases  ;  amongst 
others,  he  mentions  that  of  a  subaltern  officer,  who  being  attacked 
with  hypertrophy  of  the  left  ventricle,  thought  he  saw  white 
phantoms,  of  grotesque  and  indefinable  forms,  which  stood  before 
him  in  menacing  attitudes.  Ashamed  of  his  fears,  acknowledg- 
ing himself  the  dupe  of  phantasmagoria,  and  dreading  the 
ridicule  of  his  brother  officers,  he  dared  not  OAvn  with  what  a 
strange  affection  he  was  tormented.* 

The  pellagra,  a  cutaneous  disorder  observed  in  Lombardy, 
the  Landes  of  Bordeaux,  and  in  several  parts  of  the  south  of 
France,  is  often  accompanied  by  hallucinations  and  illusions. 
Som^  persons  who  are  attacked  believe  themselves  to  be  nuns  or 
priests  ;  others  are  convinced  that  Satan  is  pursuing  them,  and 
that  they  see  the  flames  of  eternal  punishment.  In  Italy,  the 
delirium  is  more  especially  of  a  religious  character,  and  as  the 
disease  inclines  the  patient  to  mournful  ideas,  the  disorder  is 
more  particularly  characterized  by  the  sight  of  the  devil,  hell, 
etc.f 

It  is  probable  that  the  continuance  of  such  sights  creates  the 
tendency  to  suicide  so  frequently  observable  amongst  persons 
suffering  with  this  malady  ;  perhaps,  also,  the  homicidal  mono- 
mania, also  spoken  of,  is  no  stranger  to  these  hallucinations. 
The  ideas  taking  a  new  direction,  may  substitute  the  forms  of 
angels  and  paradise  for  those  of  demons,  etc. 

Women,  under  the  influence  of  chloroses,  are  often  a  prey  to 

*  Saucerotte,  De  l'influence  des  maladies  du  cœur  sur  les  facultés  intel- 
lectuelles et  morales  de  l'homme. — Annal.  Méd.  Psjch.,  t.  iv.  Sept.  1844, 
p.  177. 

f  Brierre  de  Boismont,  De  la  pellagre  et  de  la  folie  pellagreuse,  Observa- 
tions made  in  the  Grand  Hospital  at  Milan,  2d  edit.  Paris,  1832.  Roussel, 
De  la  pellagre,  1845,  2  vols,  in  8vo.  Durand  Fardel,  Art.  Pellagre,  in 
the  Supplement  to  the  Dictionnaire  des  Dictionnaires  de  Médecine,  1851, 
p.  608. 


HALLUCINATIONS  IN  FEBRILE  AND  OTHER  MALADIES.        275 

profound  melancholy.  They  seek  solitude,  shun  activity,  and 
delight  in  sombre  ideas  ;  many  have  symptoms  of  delirium  ; 
they  are  surrounded  by  grotesque  forms,  and  see  repulsive  and 
hideous  figures.  If  this  state  continues  and  increases,  it  may 
result  in  a  fit  of  mental  alienation,  and  make  those  objects  per- 
manent, which  a  very  slight  effort  of  reason  might  dispel. 

Muratori  reports  a  curious  example  of  the  state  of  visionary 
happiness  which  occurs  in  syncope,  and  in  a  semi-loss  of  conscious- 
ness. A  young  lady  fell  into  a  violent  delirium  at  the  close  of 
a  high  fever.  On  the  subsidence  of  the  fever,  she  remained 
without  motion  or  pulse  ;  the  temperature  of  the  body  was  so 
low  that  she  was  considered  dead.  Her  body  was  about  to  be 
arranged  for  burial,  when  she  heaved  a  sigh.  She  was  immedi- 
ately rubbed  with  spirits,  and  warmed,  when  finally  motion, 
consciousness,  and  speech  returned,  and  she  recovered  entirely. 

But,  far  from  thanking  those  who  had  taken  so  much  pains  to 
restore  her  to  life,  she  complained  bitterly  that  they  had  recalled 
her  soul,  which  had  attained  to  an  inexpressible  state  of  tran- 
quillity and  happiness — a  state  not  to  be  met  with  in  this  life, 
and  compared  to  which  its  most  refined  and  extreme  pleasures 
were  as  nothing.  She  added  that  she  had  heard  the  lamenta- 
tions and  regrets  of  her  father,  and  the  directions  for  her 
funeral,  but  that  nothing  had  disturbed  her  repose  ;  that  her 
soul  was  so  profoundly  steeped  in  the  delights  she  enjoyed,  that 
she  had  lost  all  idea  of  worldly  things,  and  had  even  lost  the 
wish  to  preserve  her  body.* 

It  cannot  be  denied  that,  in  certain  diseases,  an  over-excited 
sensibility  is  developed,  which  imparts  a  prodigious  degree  of 
delicacy  and  acuteness  to  the  senses  ;  some  individuals,  likewise, 
are  sensible  of  odors,  which  come  from  considerable  distances; 
others  announce  the  arrival  of  persons,  although  no  one  else 
can  detect  any  approaching  sound. 

"In  some  ecstatic  and  spasmodic  diseases,"  says  Cabanis, 
"the  organs  of  sensation  become  sensitive  to  impressions  unfelt 
in  the  ordinary  state,  or  even  receive  unnatural  impressions. 
I  have  frequently  observed,  in  women  of  nervous  temperament, 
the  most  singular  effects  result  from  the  changes  of  which  I 
speak." 

*  Muratori,  Delia  Forza  della  Fantasia,  e.  g. 


276  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

It  is  probably  for  the  same  reason  that  we  sometimes  observe 
hallucinations  during  the  period  of  convalescence. 

Case  CXVIII.  Lieutenant-General  Thiebault,  a  man  equally 
distinguished  for  wit  and  military  talents,  was,  at  the  close  of  an 
inflammatory  fever  that  had  weakened  him  considerably,  assailed 
by  visions  ;  the  more  strange,  because  he  was  at  the  time  in  the 
full  enjoyment  of  his  reason;  none  of  his  senses  were  injured, 
and  yet  the  grotesque  objects  that  harassed  him,  and  which  he 
knew  did  not  exist,  struck  him  as  forcibly,  and  were  as  easy  for 
him  to  enumerate  and  describe  as  the  real  objects  around  him.* 

Case  CXIX.  Mademoiselle  N.  was  convalescing  after  a  very 
prolonged  fever,  which  had  reduced  her  to  a  state  of  extreme 
weakness.  All  her  family  had  gone  to  church,  when  a  violent 
storm  arose  ;  Mademoiselle  N.  went  to  the  window  to  watch  its 
efiFects;  the  idea  of  her  father  suddenly  struck  her,  and,  under 
existing  circumstances,  she  felt  much  uneasiness.  Her  imagi- 
nation soon  persuaded  her  that  her  father  had  perished.  In- 
order  to  conquer  her  fear,  she  went  into  the  room  in  which  she 
was  accustomed  to  see  him  seated  in  his  arm-chair.  On  entering, 
she  was  much  surprised  at  seeing  him  in  his  place,  and  in  his 
accustomed  attitude.  She  immediately  approached  to  inquire 
how  he  had  come  in,  and,  in  addressing  him,  attempted  to  place 
her  hand  on  his  shoulder,  but  she  encountered  only  space.  Very 
much  alarmed,  she  drew  back,  and,  turning  her  head  as  she  left 
the  room,  still  saw  him  in  the  same  attitude. 

More  than  half  an  hour  elapsed  from  the  time  she  first  saw 
the  apparition,  until  its  departure.  During  this  time,  Miss  N., 
who  was  convinced  that  it  was  an  illusion,  entered  the  room 
several  times,  and  carefully  examined  the  arrangement  of  the 
objects,  and  especially  of  the  chair. f 

Under  some  circumstances,  atmospheric  influences  have  ap- 
peared favorable  to  the  formation  of  hallucinations.  In  the 
famous  winter  of  1829  to  1830,  I  had  occasion,  says  Conolly, 
to  notice  this  fact  during  the  progress  of  several  diff"erent 
diseases.^ 

*  Eusèbe  Salverte,  Des  Sciences  Occultes,  p.  324.    D.  Thiebault,  Souve- 
nirs d'un  Séjour  à  Berlin,  torn.  v.  5th  ed. 
t  Paterson,  Mém.  cit. 
X  Conolly,  op.  cit. 


HALLUCINATIONS  IN  FEBRILE  AND  OTHER  MALADIES.        277 

M.  Prus,  in  his  observations  on  a  pamphlet  by  M.  Baillarger, 
entitled  Fragments  pour  servir  à  l'histoire  des  hallueinations, 
says,  that  extreme  cold  may  produce  hallucinations,  and  that  he 
himself  felt  its  influence  in  1814,  when  he  quitted  the  corps  of 
the  army  to  which  he  was  attached,  in  order  to  visit  his  family, 
a  distance  of  two  leagues.  "I  had  scarcely,"  says  he,  "pro- 
ceeded one  league  through  the  most  extreme  cold,  when  I  per- 
ceived that  I  was  not  in  my  normal  condition.  I  walked 
mechanically  instead  of  by  the  force  of  will  ;  and  my  body 
seemed  exceedingly  light.  Being  aware  of  the  cause,  and  also 
of  the  danger  of  this  state,  I  tried,  but  in  vain,  to  hurry  on  ; 
and  what  distressed  me  much  was,  that  I  could  not  prevent  my 
eyes  from  closing  every  instant.  I  then  had  delightful  visions; 
I  thought  myself  transported  into  delicious  gardens,  where  I 
saw  trees,  meadows,  and  streams." 

During  the  Russian  campaign,  the  military  were  equally 
assailed  by  hallucinations,  sometimes  of  a  gay,  sometimes  of  a 
melancholy  character. 

In  1845,  we  noticed  a  marked  predominance  of  nervous  symp- 
toms. "VVe  owe  to  the  courtesy  of  Drs.  Descuret  and  Salone, 
the  communication  of  a  number  of  ordinary  diseases,  combined 
with  hallucinations.  M.  Descuret  has  mentioned  seven  cases  of 
this  character,  in  persons  attacked  with  the  influenza,  one  of 
which  is  suflSciently  curious  to  arrest  our  attention. 

The  subject  was  an  ecclesiastic,  who  imagined  himself  to  be 
triple.  In  every  position,  he  saw  himself  thrice  repeated. 
When  he  turned  in  bed,  the  two  other  persons  turned  with 
him,  and  placed  themselves  upon  him. 

In  all  the  cases  the  hallucinations  ceased  with  the  disease. 

Hallucinations  sometimes  precede  diseases. 

Plutarch  says  that  Cornelius  Scylla  was  warned  of  the  fever 
that  suddenly  attacked  him,  by  the  sight  of  a  phantom  that 
called  him  by  name.  Persuaded  that  his  death  was  at  hand, 
he  prepared  for  the  event,  which  occurred  on  the  following 
night.* 

In  order  to  explain  this  death,  there  is  no  need  to  resort  to 
the  marvellous.  It  is  probable  that  Scylla  had  reached  the 
last  stage  of  an  organic  disease,  which  was  augmented  by  the 

*  Plutarch's  Lives  of  Illustrious  Men. 


278  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

effect  of  the  apparition.  Perhaps  it  hastened  his  end  ;  but 
was  evidently  not  a  sign  of  it.  It  is  to  such  causes,  to  the 
power  of  religious  belief,  to  ignorance  of  scientific  facts,  and  to 
the  influence  of  imagination,  that  the  predictions  of  death,  of 
which  there  are  so  many  examples  among  the  ancients,  must  be 
attributed. 

The  excitement  of  the  nervous  system,  and  its  extreme  im- 
pressibility, may,  under  such  circumstances,  occasion  death. 

Case  CXX.  "  A  lady,"  says  Abercrombie,  "whom  I  a.ttended 
some  years  since  for  an  inflammation  of  the  lungs,  woke  her 
husband  one  night,  at  the  commencement  of  her  disease,  and 
begged  him  to  rise  instantly.  She  told  him  that  she  had  dis- 
tinctly seen  a  man  enter  the  room,  pass  the  foot  of  the  bed,  and 
go  into  the  boudoir  on  the  opposite  side.  She  was  quite  awake, 
and  so  satisfied  of  the  reality  of  the  apparition,  that  although 
the  room  was  thoroughly  searched,  it  was  impossible  to  convince 
her  of  her  error."     A  number  of  similar  facts  are  related. 

Case  CXXI.  A  celebrated  physician  communicated  to  me  a 
fact  analogous  to  this,  but  still  more  striking.  It  occurred 
to  a  near  relative  of  his  own,  about  fifty  years  of  age.  Return- 
ing one  evening  from  a  visit,  she  went  into  a  dark  room  to  hang 
up  some  clothing  ;  she  had  scarcely  entered  before  she  saw  a 
skeleton,  with  its  arm  raised,  and  a  poniard  in  its  hand.  The 
spectre  darted  its  arm  toward  her,  and  plunged  the  poniard  in 
her  left  side.  On  the  same  night  she  was  attacked  with  fever, 
with  a  pain  in  the  left  side,  and  inflammatory  symptoms.  Her 
illness  was  severe.  The  impression  produced  on  her  mind  was 
so  strong,  that  long  after  her  recovery  she  could  not  cross  the 
threshold  of  the  door  Avhere  the  apparition  had  appeared  with- 
out agitation,  and  the  observation  that  it  was  there  her  illness 
was  contracted.* 

Many  authors,  amongst  whom  Hibbert  must  be  mentioned, 
have  proved,  that  in  the  last  stages  of  hectic  diseases,  and  many 
other  chronic  affections,  it  is  not  unusual  for  patients  to  have 
hallucinations  of  an  agreeable  nature.  By  this  tendency  of  the 
organization  are  explained  the  numerous  communications  which 
pious  persons  on  their  death-beds  believe  they  hold  with  spirit- 
ual beings.     Perhaps  this  disposition  may  be  attributed  to  the 

*  Abercrombie,  p.  oGl. 


HALLUCINATIONS  IN  FEBRILE  AND  OTHER  MALADIES.        279 

happiness  the  sick  persons,  especially  consumptives,  experience, 
at  the  moment  of  death,  which  makes  them  conceive  the  most 
varied  and  beautiful  projects.  It  must  not  be  lost  sight  of,  that 
in  speaking  of  hallucinations  consistent  with  reason,  we  have 
noted  swoonings,  syncope,  and  asphyxia,  as  favorable  to  the  pro- 
duction of  this  symptom. 

"Nothing  is  more  surprising,"  says  Arétée,  "  than  the  reflec- 
tions sometimes  made  by  sick  persons  in  the  crisis  of  their  disease, 
the  projects  they  form,  and  the  sights  they  witness.  Amidst  the 
facts  of  hallucination  noticed  in  the  last  stage  of  sickness,  is  one 
which  will  forever  be  engraven  on  my  memory. 

Case  CXXIL  "On  the  1st  of  June,  1842, 1  received  from  the 
President  of  the  School  of  Medicine  in  Rouen,  the  sad  intelli- 
gence that  my  mother,  who  had  for  many  years  kept  her  bed, 
from  a  disease  of  the  uterus,  had  two  days  before  had  epileptiform 
attacks,  with  loss  of  consciousness,  of  so  violent  a  character  that 
her  life  was  despaired  of,  and  it  was  feared  that  if  in  her  enfeebled 
state  she  had  another  fit,  she  would  die  before  I  could  reach 
home.  My  friend  added  that  these  violent  crises  had,  for  the 
time,  ceased,  and  were  replaced  by  a  tranquil  delirium,  in  which 
she  saw  shadows  and  figures  of  all  kinds,  spoke  of  various  ob- 
jects entirely  unconnected  with  her  position,  no  longer  recog- 
nized those  who  surrounded  her,  but  imagined  herself  ill-treated 
by  them,  and  endeavored  to  drive  them  away;  even  to  my  sister. 
who  had  never  quitted  her  bedside,  she  became  entirely  indif- 
ferent. In  the  midst  of  her  incoherent  words,  one  idea  seemed 
predominant  ;  that  she  should  never  see  me  again.  She  called 
for  me  unceasingly.  That  night  found  me  by  her  side.  Pene- 
trating into  the  apartment  of  my  much-loved  mother,  towards  one 
in  the  morning,  a  prey  to  anguish  in  which  all  can  sympathize, 
I  found  her  sitting  up,  with  fixed  eyes,  pronouncing,  in  a  low 
voice,  those  words  of  delirium  that  have  so  long  rung  sadly  in 
my  ears.  She  desired  that  the  persons  who  had  come  into  the 
room  might  be  sent  away,  especially  the  wicked  woman  who  so 
much  tormented  her.  With  her  hand,  even,  she  tried  to  drive 
them  off:  'Pray  send  them  away,'  she  repeated;  'do  you  not 
hear  what  a  noise  they  make  V  Then  followed  a  mournful  si- 
lence. '  They  hinder  me  from  seeing  my  son.  My  poor  son! 
he  will  not  come;  when  he  does  come,  I  shall  be  dead.'  This 
delirium  lasted  for  twenty-four  hours. 


280  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

"At  this  sight,  I  burst  into  tears,  and  taking  her  hand,  said, 
'  Calm  yourself,  my  good  mother,  I  am  near  you,  I  will  not 
leave  you;'  and  I  pressed  her  to  my  heart.  Scarcely  had  I 
said  these  words,  than  my  mother  Avas  silent,  as  if  endeavoring 
to  collect  herself;  and  recovering  her  senses,  said  to  me  :  '  Tell 
me,  is  it  indeed  you,  my  son  ?  Ah,  I  know  your  voice.  Where 
are  you  ?  I  do  not  see  you.'  Her  attention  becoming  more  and 
more  concentrated,  she  distinguished  objects,  and  finally  per- 
ceived me.  '  You  are  there,'  added  she,  'I  shall  die  content  !' 
Her  delirium  had  ceased  ;  the  sound  of  my  voice  had  sunk  to 
the  depths  of  her  soul.  A  miraculous  change  had  occurred; 
reason  shone  brightly  on  the  altar  of  maternal  love.  During 
the  remaining  five  days  of  her  life,  I  had  the  extreme  happi- 
ness of  seeing  her  reason  preserved.  On  the  fifth,  the  day  of 
her  death,  an  artist  was  taking  her  portrait  ;  it  was  eleven 
o'clock  in  the  morning.  The  painter  observing  her  grow  pale, 
proposed  to  defer  the  sitting.  '  Go  on,'  said  she,  'it  will  soon 
be  too  late.'     At  three  she  expired." 

For  the  completion  of  this  chapter,  it  only  remains  to  speak 
of  hallucinations  in  nervous  complaints,  and  in  some  morbid 
conditions  to  which  we  referred  when  we  spoke  of  hallucinations 
compatible  with  reason,  but  it  would  be  only  to  repeat  what  we 
have  already  said  ;  it  appears  to  us  sufficient  to  have  called 
attention  again  to  this  subject. 

Recapitulation. — Hallucinations  may  be  combined  with  all 
diseases. 

The  impressions  produced  on  the  imagination  by  fever,  have 
been  divided  into  three  degrees  ;  in  one,  reason  is  intact;  in  the 
second,  it  is  overthrown  ;  in  the  third,  destroyed.  Any  one  of 
these  states  may  replace  the  other. 

Hallucinations  sometimes  precede  the  disease,  of  which  they 
are  then  the  signal  precursors. 

The  principal  diseases  in  which  hallucinations  have  been 
observed  are  :  inflammatory  fevers,  congestions,  inflammations, 
and  diseases  of  the  brain  and  its  membranes,"^'  inflammations  of 
the  lungs,  lesions  of  the  digestive  organs,  typhoid  and  intermit- 
tent fevers,  gout,  hectic  diseases,  etc. 

*  Durand  Fardel,  Traité  du  HamoUisseraent  du  Cerveau  ;  a  work  to 
which  a  prize  was  awarded  by  the  Royal  Academy  of  Medicine,  1843,  1 
vol.  8vo.,  pp.  235,  249,  328. 


HALLUCINATIONS  IN  FEBKILE  AND  OTHER  MALADIES.         281 

The  special  character  of  hallucinations  in  the  last  stage  of 
hectic  diseases,  is  probably  linked  to  a  sense  of  happiness  Avhich 
makes  this  class  of  sick  persons  form  a  multitude  of  projects. 

The  combination  of  hallucinations  with  nervous  diseases,  has 
been  sufficiently  established. 

Convalescence,  abstinence,  and  loss  of  consciousness,  may 
cause  hallucinations.  They  have  also  been  occasioned  by  atmo- 
spheric influences. 

It  is  probable  that  the  production  of  hallucinations  in  disease 
is  the  result  of  a  morbid  action  of  the  nervous  and  circulatory 
cerebral  systems  ;  but  how  they  are  produced  remains  undis- 
covered. 

Hallucinations  are  then  manifested  like  delirium  ;  hitherto 
cerebral  modification  has  escaped  all  our  researches, 


CHAPTER    XIV. 

CAUSES    OF   HALLUCINATIONS.* 

Etiology  of  hallucinations  and  illusions — It  should  be  sought  in  the  psychical  and 
corporeal  elements  of  man,  and  above  all  in  ideas,  in  hallucinations  of  long 
standing,  single  and  compatible  with  reason. 

First  Division. — Moral  causes  ;  their  influence  on  hallucination — Statistic — Epi- 
demic hallucinations — Influence  of  dominant  ideas — Demonology,  sorcery, 
magic,  lycantrophy,  apparitions,  vampirism,  ecstasies — Influence  of  difi"erent 
civilizations — Influence  of  the  passions,  of  fixed  ideas,  of  preoccupations  of 
the  mind,  and  of  bodily  occupations. 

Second  Division. — Physical  causes. — These  may  be  subdivided  into  five  heads  : 
1.  The  influence  of  inheritance,  of  the  sexes,  of  age,  etc. — 2.  The  influence 
of  mechanical  causes,  of  fermented  liquors  and  narcotic  and  poisonous  sub- 
stances— 3.  The  influence  of  mental  diseases — 4.  The  influence  of  nervous  dis- 
eases other  than  insanity — 5.  The  influence  of  acute,  chronic,  and  other  dis- 
eases— Recapitulation. 

Before  we  trace  the  accessible  sources  of  hallucinations, 
that  is  to  saj,  the  secondary  causes,t  we  must  remember  that 
ideas  are  composed  of  two  distinct  elements — a  sensible  sign 
and  a  pure  conception.  Mysteriously  united,  like  the  soul  and 
the  body,  they  form  a  perfect  emblem  of  the  nature  of  man. 
Hallucination,  that  outward  garment,  that  daguerreotype  of  an 
idea,  being  then  only  the  corporeal  portion,  whilst  pure  concep- 
tion is  its  psychical  part,  it  is  evident  that  in  these  two  elements 
we  must  seek  the  cause  of  this  singular  phenomenon. 

The  observations  we  have  made  on  fever  doubtless  prove 
that  this  state  is  favorable  to  the  production  of  errors  of  the 

*  The  study  of  the  causes  of  hallucinations  has  so  many  points  of  union 
with  that  of  illusions  ;  or  rather,  the  ties  which  unite  them  are  so  intimate, 
that  we  have  judged  it  right  not  to  separate  them. 

t  The  primary  cause  of  this  phenomenon  will  always  remain  hidden, 
like  that  of  all  facts  which  surround  us.  It  is  the  difference  which  sepa- 
rates the  finite  from  the  infinite,  towards  which  we  are  constantly  tending, 
often  against  our  will,  and  which  our  most  ardent  desire  to  know  will  never 
alter  in  this  world. 


CAUSES  OF  HALLUCINATIONS.  283 

senses  ;  but  it  must  not  be  considered  as  exclusive,  because  fever 
may  exist  for  a  long  time  without  either  delirium  or  hallucina- 
tion. There  are,  besides,  cases  of  hallucination  occurring  in 
persons  in  good  health,  gifted  with  remarkable  sense  and  under 
no  morbid  influence,  which  can  only  be  explained  by  a  peculiar 
modification  of  the  nervous  system.  Such  is  the  following 
case  : — 

Case  CXXIII.  Madame  la  Vicomtesse  d'A.,  wife  to  the  cele- 
brated author  of  that  name,  whom  I  attended  for  many  years, 
was  conversing  with  me  one  day  on  the  apparitions  of  Holy 
Writ,  of  which  her  piety  never  permitted  her  to  entertain  the 
least  doubt.  "I  will  relate,"  said  she,  "an  event  that  oc- 
curred to  me  twelve  years  ago,  and  which  is  a  fresh  proof  of  the 
reality  of  those  visions  to  which  your  science  gives  the  name  of 
hallucinations.  I  had  received  a  letter  from  my  son-in-law. 
Count  d'O.,  informing  me  that  my  daughter,  from  whom  I  was 
separated  several  hundred  leagues,  was  very  ill,  but  the  letter 
did  not  contain  any  expression  which  led  me  to  fear  a  fatal 
termination  to  her  sickness.  On  returning  to  my  room  (it  was 
then  nine  in  the  morning),  preoccupied  with  the  idea  of  my 
child's  suifering,  I  heard  a  heart-piercing  voice  pronounce  these 
words  :  '  Lovest  thou  me  V  I  felt  no  surprise,  and  instantly 
replied,  in  a  loud  voice  :  '  Lord,  thou  knowest  that  I  have  placed 
all  my  trust  in  thee,  and  that  I  love  thee  with  all  my  soul.' 
The  voice  added  :  '  Wilt  thou  yield  her  to  me  V  A  shudder  of 
fear  ran  through  me,  but  recovering  myself,  I  again  replied  : 
'  Howsoever  painful  the  sacrifice,  thy  holy  will  be  done  !'  and  I 
then  fell  into  an  arm-chair  in  a  fainting  state.  On  the  following 
day,  a  second  letter  brought  me  intelligence  of  the  death  of  my 
dear  child." 

All  who  were  acquainted  with  the  Viscountess,  knew  her  as  a 
sensible,  well-informed,  and  strong-minded  woman.  Tried  by 
severe  moral  afilictions,  which  spare  neither  rank  nor  age,  reli- 
gious principle  had  sustained  her.  The  more  misfortunes 
assailed  her,  the  more  she  implored  consolation  from  God.  In 
a  word,  she  was  a  fervent  Catholic,  without  bigotry  or  fanati- 
cism ;  one  of  those  privileged  natures  formed  to  administer  to  the 
happiness  of  their  fellow-creatures,  and  who,  on  quitting  the 
world,  give  an  example  of  those  glorious,  unostentatious  deaths 


284  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

justly  contrasted  by  Count  de  la  Mark  with  the  dramatic  deaths 
vaunted  to  him  by  Mirabeau.*  ' 

We  shall  make  only  a  few  brief  remarks  on  the  hallucinations 
of  Madame  d'A.  It  took  place  in  broad  daylight,  at  a  period 
when  her  health  was  excellent  ;  at  a  time  when  her  attention 
was  concentrated  on  the  illness  of  her  daughter.  Brought  up 
in  the  Christian  faith,  from  which  she  had  never  swerved,  and 
having  always  had  recourse  to  prayer  in  her  sorrows,  she  expe- 
rienced no  astonishment  at  the  words  which  she  believed  she 
heard.  Twelve  years  had  elapsed,  when  Madame  d'A.  related 
the  anecdote  to  me  ;  but  her  belief  in  its  reality  was  as  vivid  as 
on  the  day  of  its  occurrence.  This  example  is  to  me  a  most 
convincing  proof  of  the  manner  in  which  the  apparitions  of  the 
Middle  Ages  may  be  explained,  and  of  the  falsity  of  that  sys- 
tem that  would  always  convert  hallucinations  into  a  system  of 
insanity. 

In  a  medical  point  of  view,  there  is  no  doubt  that  the  nervous 
and  sanguine  elements  play  a  considerable  part  in  hallucina- 
tions ;  but  how  do  they  act  ?  Therein  lies  the  difficulty.  We 
are  entirely  ignorant  of  their  modes  of  action  in  the  normal  com- 
binations of  thought.  Pathological  anatomy  might  perhaps 
inform  us  that  certain  cerebral  changes  are  more  suited  to  their 
manifestation,  which  is,  however,  far  from  being  proved.  We 
only  know  that  several  stimulants  contribute  to  give  more 
vivacity  and  animation  to  ideas,  which  after  all  signifies  that 
a  greater  affluence  of  blood  reaches  the  brain.  It  may  then  be 
given,  as  a  general  rule,  that  a  greater  excitation  of  the  nerv- 
ous system,  and  a  greater  afflux  of  blood,  contribute  to  the 
development  of  hallucinations.  But  what  is  the  agent  of  these 
excitations  ?  how  does  it  modify  these  elements  ?  where  does 
it  make  itself  felt  ?  These  are  questions,  the  solution  of  which 
is  not  more  easy  than  a  thousand  others  of  the  same  nature 

*  Correspondance  entre  le  Comte  de  Mirabeau  et  le  Comte  de  la  Mark, 
recueilléc  et  publiée  par  M,  de  Bacourt,  t.  i.  pp.  258,  259.  Mirabeau,  et 
la  cour  de  Louis  XVI.  par  M.  St.  Marc  Girardin,  Revue  des  Deux  Mondes, 
Ist  Oct.  1851.  Some  time  after  that  conversation,  the  Comte  de  la  Mark 
went  to  see  Mirabeau,  who  was  seriously  ill  in  bed  ;  he,  desirous  of  giving 
a  proof  of  the  impression  which  his  words  had  made  on  his  mind,  bade 
him  approach,  and  pressing  his  hand,  said,  "My  dear  connoisseur  in  glo- 
rious deaths,  are  you  satisfied?" 


CAUSES  OF  HALLUCINATIONS.  285 

"which  have  remained  unanswered.  Must  we  not  admit  a  pre- 
disposition, that  unknoiun  something  which  we  everywhere 
encounter  ?  Without  this  assumption,  how  can  we  explain 
apoplexy  in  some  cases,  cerebral  inflammation  in  others  ;  in 
one,  softening  of  the  brain,  in  another,  mania  ;  in  one,  stupor, 
and  in  another  the  absence  of  any  morbid  phenomena? 

Thus,  in  fine,  under  the  influence  of  a  moral  or  physical  force, 
a  stronger  stimulation  of  the  nervous  and  sanguineous  systems 
may  produce  an  hallucination,  without  the  possibility  of  esta- 
blishing an  intimate  relation  between  these  two  orders  of  facts. 

Having  thus  touched  on  the  organic  element,  we  will  return 
to  the  world  of  ideas,  in  which  we  must  necessarily  seek  the 
causes  of  the  singular  phenomena  of  hallucinations.  Such  a 
study,  by  its  immensity,  would  offer  almost  insurmountable 
difficulties  if  we  did  not  establish  some  fixed  points  to  serve  as 
guides  in  the  work.  Thus,  in  a  first  chapter,  we  will  consider 
the  action  of  social  and  individual  influences,  and  of  moral  and 
physical  causes,  on  the  production  of  hallucinations;  and  in  a 
second  chapter,  we  will  endeavor  to  penetrate  more  deeply  into 
their  mode  of  formation,  by  examining  them  psychologically, 
historically,  morally,  and  religiously. 

The  study  of  the  causes  of  hallucinations  ofl"ers  great  diffi- 
culties. This  disorder  of  the  senses  having  always  been  looked 
upon  as  an  epiphenomenon  of  insanity,  authors  in  general  have 
agreed  not  to  consider  it  as  a  special  subject,  or  to  class  its 
etiology  with  that  of  mental  diseases.  Ferriar  and  Hibbert, 
who  have  published  special  works  on  hallucinations,  anterior  to 
those  of  Esquirol,  have  pursued  this  erroneous  course. 

It  is  worthy  of  notice  that  the  greater  number  of  insane  per- 
sons have  hallucinations,  but  it  is  no  less  certain  that  they  may 
be  manifested  singly.  Even  in  their  complicated  state,  it  is  not 
always  difficult  to  recognize  their  origin.  Finally,  we  may  draw 
useful  information  from  those  which  are  compatible  with  reason, 
or  which  accompany  disease. 

DIVISION  I.— MORAL  CAUSES. 

Hallucinations  appearing  with  mental  diseases,  of  which  they 
are  signs,  the  complication,  development,  termination,  epiphe- 


286  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

nomena,  etc.,  à  i^riori,  the  division  into  moral  and  physical 
causes  should  be  equally  applicable  to  them. 

A  fact  noticed  in  our  Mémoire  sur  V Influence  de  la  Civilisa- 
tion, appears  to  decide  the  question  in  favor  of  moral  causes. 
In  fact,  epidemic  hallucinations,  such  as  vampirism,  ecstasies, 
and  visions  seen  in  the  plague,  are  not  capable  of  any  other 
explanation.  Hallucinations  were  transmitted  in  this  case,  by 
the  influence  of  educational  and  social  ideas,  by  the  force  of 
example,  by  an  actual  moral  contagion,  absolutely  in  the  same 
Avay  that  thousands  of  men  rush  to  battle  at  the  voice  of  a  cele- 
brated chief,  or  that  numbers  massacre  a  defenceless  one,  urged 
on  by  the  energetic  appeal  of  some  infuriate  madman. 

The  double  action  of  the  moral  over  the  physical  proves  that 
hallucinations  cannot  escape  the  common  law,  but  the  seat  of 
their  action  and  their  nature  betokens  the  predominance  of  one 
of  these  influences  ;  thus,  from  the  commencement  of  our  re- 
searches, we  have  maintained  that  profound  preoccupation  and 
prolonged  concentration  of  thought  on  a  single  object  are 
eminently  favorable  to  the  production  of  hallucinations.  Ex- 
amples given  of  philosophers,  poets,  and  founders  of  religions, 
decide  the  point  ;  but  we  have  insisted  on  the  diff"erence  of 
these  hallucinations  from  those  observable  in  insanity. 

Men  who,  by  an  ill-directed  education,  are  in  a  state  of  con- 
stant excitement,  whose  organization  has  become  very  impres- 
sible, and  who  have  given  unbounded  license  to  their  imagina- 
tions, are  subject  to  hallucinations.  Certain  imaginations,  says 
a  modern  author,  are  necessarily  superstitious  ;  they  are  usually 
among  the  rich  and  high-born  ;  they  are  less  willing  to  admit 
truth  than  fable  ;  nature  is  too  vulgar  for  them,  attracted  as 
they  are,  by  their  instincts,  towards  the  impossible,  or,  at  least, 
towards  the  ideal.  It  is  therefore  that  they  take  delight  in  a 
rich  dark  wood,  because  its  gloomy  arches  may  be  peopled  with 
phantoms  and  genii.  The  ancients,  who  were  such  great  poets, 
dreamed  of  these  things  by  day.  Their  heated  imaginations 
were  to  them  as  the  sun,  a  focus  of  intense  light,  inspiring  them 
with  images  of  larvae  and  phantoms,  laughing  dryads,  etc. 
Thus  it  is  with  those  who  allow  their  minds  to  dwell  incessantly 
on  chimerical  projects  and  fanciful  creations. 

The  general  desire  to  be  fed  with  chimeras,  which  has  given 
birth  to  the  just  observation  :  Man  is  ice  for  wisdom,  and  fire 


CAUSES  OF  HALLUCINATIONS.  287 

for  falsehood — appears  to  us  a  fruitful  source  of  hallucinations. 
Having  passed  ten,  fifteen,  or  twenty  years  in  dreaming,  it 
requires  but  a  slight  addition  of  color  to  deepen  the  tint,  when 
the  panorama  stops  at  the  favorite  subject,  and  that  which  has 
caused  the  deepest  impression.  Sufficient  attention  has  not 
been  bestowed  on  this  misty  phantasmagoria  in  which  we  live. 
Those  undecided  forms,  which  approach  and  retire  unceasingly, 
with  a  thousand  tantalizing  smiles,  and  after  which  we  run  with  so 
much  ardor,  travel  through  our  brains,  emerge  from  their  clouds, 
and  become  clearer  and  clearer  ;  then  the  moral  or  physical 
point  is  reached  ;  thought  revived,  colored,  and  represented,, 
suddenly  appears  in  a  material  form,  and  is  transformed  into  aa 
hallucination. 

Wonderful  and  frightful  stories,  and  menaces,  so  long  the 
accompaniments  of  childhood,  would  naturally  dispose  impres- 
sible minds  to  collect  all  the  fantastic  creations  of  the  age.  In 
these  days,  it  may  be  argued,  the  system  is  completely  changed; 
children  are  taught  to  ridicule  the  old-fashioned  credulity. 
This  argument  would  be  unanswerable,  if  schools  and  colleges 
only  were  in  question  ;  but  what  shall  be  said  of  the  mercena- 
ries to  whom  the  earliest  infancy  of  children  is  confided  ?  This 
is  the  nursery  of  folly,  terror,  and  dreadful  tales,  in  the  belief 
of  which  they  grow  up.  I  will  content  myself  with  the  ex- 
ample of  one  of  the  greatest  poets  of  England,  Robert  Burns. 
"I  owed  much  in  my  infancy,"  says  he,  "  to  an  old  woman  who 
lived  near  to  us,  and  who  was  unusually  ignorant,  credulous, 
and  superstitious.  No  one  in  the  whole  country  had  so  great  a 
collection  of  stories  and  songs  of  detils,  fairies,  spirits,  sorcerers, 
magicians,  will-o'-the-wisps,  hobgoblins,  phantoms,  apparitions, 
charms,  giants,  dragons,  etc.  Not  only  did  these  recitals  culti- 
vate in  me  the  germs  of  poetry,  but  they  had  such  an  effect  on 
my  imagination  that  even  now,  in  my  nocturnal  rambles,  I  often, 
in  despite  of  myself,  keep  my  eye  upon  certain  suspicious  places; 
and  although  no  one  can  be  more  skeptical  in  such  matters,  it 
nevertheless,  sometimes,  requires  an  efifort  of  philosophy  to  chase 
away  these  vain  terrors."* 

Darkness,  gloom,  the  silence  of  night,  and  solitude,  contribute 

*  Poésies  complète  de  Robert  Burns,  translated  from  the  English,  by 
Léon  de  "Wailly.     Notice  sur  Burns.     Paris,  1843,  edit.  Charpentier. 


288  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

powerfully  to  develop  the  sentiment  of  terror,  so  unhappily  in- 
stilled into  the  minds  of  children.  They  easily  imagine  frightful 
objects  which  look  at  them  menacingly  ;  they  see  assassins, 
robbers,  devils,  and  monsters  of  all  kinds. 

This  eifect  of  obscurity  is  very  sensibly  exhibited  in  the  fren- 
zied. At  the  first,  their  incoherences  and  wanderings  only  occur 
when  they  are  in  a  dark  room,  or  when  they  close  their  eyes  ; 
they  then  see  a  multitude  of  horrible  figures,  which  approach 
them  with  menaces  and  grimaces.  So  soon  as  they  open  their 
eyes,  or  light  is  admitted  into  the  room,  the  phantoms  vanish. 

Complete  solitude  or  long  imprisonment,  is  each  a  fruitful 
cause  of  hallucinations. 

The  wife  of  a  condemned  politician,  whose  husband  was  a 
madman  in  Bicetre,  told  us  that  the  prisoners  who  were  sen- 
tenced with  him,  and  had  been  for  many  years  imprisoned,  were 
tormented  by  visions. 

M.  Leon  Faucher  speaks  of  a  prisoner  who  told  MM.  de 
Beaumont  et  Tocqueville,  that,  during  the  first  months  of  his 
solitude,  he  was  often  visited  by  strange  visions  ;  for  several 
succeeding  nights,  he  saw  an  eagle  perched  on  the  foot  of  his 
bed.  In  1840,  in  the  penitentiary  in  Philadelphia,  there  were 
ten  out  of  twelve  cases  of  hallucinations,  and  from  1837  to  1841, 
eighty-six  prisoners  went  mad.  What  commentator  would  not 
grow  pale  at  the  simple  enumeration  of  these  facts  ?* 

M.  Gosse  also  says  that  several  persons  in  a  penitentiary  in 
Switzerland,  having  no  predisposition  to  insanity  before  their 
incarceration,  almost  all  became  hallucinated  under  the  influence 
of  solitary  confinement. 

We  have  already  related  an  anecdote  of  Benvenuto  Cellini  ; 
and  Silvio  Pellico,  who  was  incarcerated  at  Spielburg,  thus  de- 
scribes the  efi'ect  of  solitude  upon  himself: — 

"  During  these  horrible  nights,  my  imagination  was  so  highly 
excited,  that,  although  quite  awake,  it  appeared  to  me  that  I 
heard  sometimes  sighs,  sometimes  stifled  laughter.  In  childhood, 
I  had  never  believed  in  magicians  and  sorcerers,  but  now 
these  sighs  and  laughter  filled  me  with  terror.  I  could  not 
explain  it,  and  was  obliged  to  ask  myself  if  I  was  not  the  sport 
of  some  mysterious  and  evil  power. 

*  De  la  Réforme  des  Prisons.     Revue  des  Deux  Mondes  Février,  1841. 


CAUSES  OF  HALLUCINATIONS.  289 

"  I  several  times  took  my  lamp,  -with  a  trembling  hand,  to 
examine  if  some  person  was  not  hidden  beneath  my  bed.  At 
table,  it  seemed  as  if  some  one  pulled  my  coat,  or  drew  away 
the  book,  which  I  saw  fall  to  the  earth,  or  came  behind  me  to 
blow  out  my  light.  I  would  then  start  up,  look  around,  stride 
defiantly  up  and  down,  and  ask  myself  if  I  was  or  was  not 
mad. 

"  In  the  morning  these  phantoms  vanished,  and  whilst  day- 
light remained,  my  heart  felt  so  courageous  that  it  seemed 
impossible  that  I  could  again  be  assailed  by  such  terrors.  But 
at  sunset,  my  fears  recommenced,  and  each  night  brought  but  a 
repetition  of  the  fearful  visions  of  the  preceding  one. 

"These  nocturnal  apparitions,  which  by  day  I  called  foolish 
illusions,  became  at  night  terrible  realities."* 

Some  of  Silvio  Pellico's  companions  in  misfortune  endured 
similar  sensations.  The  greatest  anxiety  of  Gonfalonieri,  at 
Spielberg,  was  the  fear  of  losing  his  reason,  which,  to  use  his  own 
expression,  appeared  always  on  the  point  of  taking  flight. 

The  Abbé  Langlet  Dufresnay  remarks,  that  apparitions  seldom 
appear  excepting  in  deserts,  solitudes,  monasteries,  or  other 
secluded  situations. 

We  will  make  no  comment  on  cellular  imprisonment,  excepting 
that  we  believe,  if  carried  out  in  all  its  rigor,  it  would  have  a 
decided  influence  on  the  volatile  and  impressible  organization  of 
the  French. 

When  the  mind  is  thus  prepared  to  receive  these  illusions, 
any  accidental  circumstance,  such  as  an  unusual  sound,  a  parti- 
cular disposition  of  the  light,  a  shadow,  or  a  certain  arrange- 
ment of  the  draperies  in  the  room  are  sufficient  to  produce  all 
the  efi'ects  of  reality;  and  hence  have  originated  a  number  of 
curious  facts.  Sir  Walter  Scott,  whose  mind  was  powerfully 
excited  by  the  account  of  the  death  of  the  illustrious  Byron, 
saw,  on  entering  his  dining-room,  the  image  of  his  friend  before 
him.  Struck  with  the  minute  accuracy  with  which  his  imagina- 
tion had  reproduced  every  peculiarity  of  dress,  with  the  manner 
of  the  great  poet,  he  stood  still  a  few  moments;  then  advancing, 

*  Silvio  Pellico,  Mes  prisons,  traduction  de  M.  Antoine  Latour,  p.  127, 
et  seq.,  1840. — Alex.  Andryane,  Mémoires  d'un  Prisonier  d'Etat,  2  vols,  in 
8vo.  Paris,  1840. 
19 


290  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

he  perceived  that  this  vision  was  owing  to  the  accidental  ar- 
rangement of  a  piece  of  drapery  on  a  screen. 

Case  CXXIV.  Ferriar  gives  the  case  of  a  gentleman,  who, 
losing  his  way  whilst  travelling  in  Scotland,  demanded  hospitality 
in  a  little  solitary  cottage.  The  hostess  remarked,  with  a  mys- 
terious kind  of  repugnance  on  conducting  him  to  his  room,  that 
he  would  not  find  the  window  very  secure.  On  examination,  he 
perceived  that  a  portion  of  the  wall  had  been  broken,  in  order  to 
enlarge  the  opening.  She  told  him,  in  reply  to  his  inquiries, 
that  a  colporteur,  who  had  lodged  some  time  before  in  this  room, 
had  committed  suicide  in  it,  and  was  found  in  the  morning  sus- 
pended behind  the  door.  The  corpse,  according  to  the  custom 
of  the  country,  not  being  allowed  to  pass  through  the  door,  it 
had  been  necessary  to  break  away  a  portion  of  the  wall,  in  order 
to  take  the  body  through  the  window.  The  hostess  added  that 
the  room  had  ever  since  been  haunted  by  the  ghost  of  the  poor 
man. 

Somewhat  disturbed  by  the  story,  my  friend  retired  to  rest, 
having  loaded  his  arms,  and  placed  them  by  his  side.  In  his 
sleep  he  had  a  frightful  vision,  and,  waking  half  dead  with  fear, 
he  found  himself  seated  çn  the  side  of  the  bed,  pistol  in  hand. 
Casting  a  look  around  him,  he  saw,  by  the  light  of  the  moon,  a 
corpse  in  a  winding-sheet,  standing  up  against  the  wall,  close  to 
the  window.  He  resolved,  after  much  hesitation,  to  approach 
this  hideous  object,  which  was  clearly  defined.  He  passed  his 
hand  over  it,  and,  feeling  nothing,  rushed  back  to  his  bed. 
Again,  after  a  long  struggle  with  his  terror,  he  recommenced 
his  investigation,  and  found  that  the  object  of  his  alarm  was 
produced  by  the  rays  of  the  moon,  forming  a  long  illuminated 
image,  which  his  imagination,  frightened  by  his  dreams,  had 
metamorphosed  into  a  corpse  prepared  for  burial.* 

These  remarks  have  already  sufiBciently  proved  the  influence 
of  moral  causes  in  the  production  of  hallucinations.  The  de- 
tails on  which  we  are  about  to  enter  will  leave  no  doubt  on 
this  point.  In  115  out  of  190  cases,  collected  by  others  or  our- 
selves, the  causes  which  have  induced  the  development  of  hallu- 

*  Ferriar,  op.  cit.  p.  24.  "We  have  already  dwelt  on  the  characteristics 
■which  separate  illusion  from  hallucination;  the  distinction  should  not  be 
lost  sight  of. 


CAUSES  OF  HALLUCINATIONS. 


291 


cinations  have  been  meditations  carried  to  ecstasy,  the  dominant 
religious,  philosophic,  political,  and  superstitious  ideas  of  the 
period.*  Inventions  of  fancy,  concentration  of  thought,  strug- 
gles of  mind,  exclusive  passions,  preoccupation,  inquietude,  re- 
morse, grief,  excess  of  study,  love,  hope,  jealousy,  and  anger. 
These  causes  exhibited  themselves  in  the  following  order: — f 


Ecstatic  meditations,  day  or  night  ecstasy 

33 

Dominant  ideas,  religious  and  social 

24 

Educational  ideas,  terrors        .          .         .         . 

11 

Concentrations  of  thought,  exclusive  passions 

7 

Remorse 

6 

Grief 

5 

Love 

5 

Occupations,  habits  of  mind  and  body 

4 

Fanciful  compositions     .... 

3 

Excess  of  study     ..... 

3 

Solitary  imprisonment     .... 

3 

Jealousy 

2 

Anger,  resentment           .... 

2 

Misery  ....... 

2 

Conversations,  reading  prolonged  far  into  the  n 

ight     2 

Hope     ....... 

1 

Ambition        ...... 

1 

Hallucinations  combined  with  madnessj  . 

53 

Hallucinations  combined  with  disease 

23 

190 

All  these  causes  are  far  from  being  equally  important  ;  we 
prefer  dwelling  on  those  that  have  been  most  prominent,  and 
amongst  which  we  would  first  place  education,  belief,  the  domi- 
nant ideas  of  the  times,  different  states  of  society,  etc. 

*  In  a  work,  published  by  the  Annales  Mtdico-Psychologiques,  entitled 
"Du  Suicide  dans  l'Antiquité,  dans  le  Moyen  âge,  et  dans  les  temps  mo- 
dernes," we  have  called  attention  to  the  influence  of  philosophic  and  reli- 
gious ideas  as  connected  with  suicide.  Hallucinations  are  submitted  to 
similar  laws. 

t  This  table  is  but  an  extract  from  the  observations  resulting  from  our 
researches. 

X  The  number  of  insane  in  whom  hallucinations  are  observed  is  much 
more  considerable  ;  but  we  only  refer  to  the  cases  contained  in  our  work. 


292  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

We  are  not  of  that  school  Avho  think  a  history  of  a  people 
can  be  written  by  their  follies  ;  truth  is  the  rule,  error  the  ex- 
ception. A  free  exercise  of  reason  is  the  normal  state  of  nations; 
its  disturbance  is  a  transient  effect,  which  yields  to  moral  or 
physical  remedies.  It  may  certainly  happen  that  the  human 
mind  be  led  astray  by  social  and  educational  influences;  and 
then  those  furious  tornadoes  arise,  which  draw  whole  masses  of 
men  into  their  vortex.  Error  and  folly  appear  to  govern  the 
world  ;  but  these  usurpations  have  but  a  time,  and  in  their  very 
midst,  energetic  protestations  make  themselves  heard;  so  that 
it  is  much  more  just  to  say  that  these  great  disorders  are  criti- 
cal epochs,  and  if  they  are  admitted  into  history,  it  is  only  that 
no  part  of  the  picture  may  be  omitted. 

Since  the  publication  of  this  passage,  important  events  have 
occurred.  We  will  only  here  notice  them  as  connected  with  the 
nature  of  hallucinations.  In  the  two  establishments  of  which 
we  have  been  director  and  physician,  two  forms  of  this  phenome- 
non in  particular  have  come  under  our  notice.  In  the  one  case, 
the  individuals,  chiefly  belonging  to  the  old  noblesse,  terrified 
at  the  sanguinary  recollections  of  the  revolution  of  '93,  tremb- 
ling for  the  safety  of  their  families  and  fortunes,  were  gen- 
erally a  prey  to  hypochondria,  with  a  tendency  to  suicide; 
they  imagined  themselves  surrounded  with  assassins  and  execu- 
tioners ;  heard  the  booming  of  cannon,  and  uttered  shrieks  of 
terror.  In  the  second  form,  which  attacked  more  particularly 
those  in  whom  the  new  order  of  things  had  awakened  great  hopes, 
the  insanity  took  quite  a  contrary  character.  They  thought 
themselves  representatives,  presidents  of  the  Republic,  or  re- 
formers called  upon  to  bring  happiness,  fortune,  health,  and  long 
life  to  the  human  race  ;  some  even  dreamed  of  an  indefinite 
existence.  The  hallucinations  of  this  class  were  of  a  lively  cha- 
racter. They  heard  voices  which  spoke  agreeable  words,  and  made 
great  promises  to  them.  There  were,  however,  some  of  this  lat- 
ter class,  whose  insanity  consisted  in  violent  exasperation  against 
their  enemies,  for  Avhose  death  they  loudly  clamored  ;  the  guillo- 
tine and  other  instruments  of  death  were  present  to  them,  and 
threatening  voices  were  incessantly  addressing  them.  Of  course, 
we  are  understood  to  speak  only  of  those  who  came  under  our 
immediate  care,  who  were  by  no  means  the  greater  number. 
The  prevailing  disease  of  the  period  having  attacked  the  most  pow- 


CAUSES  OF  HALLUCINATIONS.  293 

erful  minds,  no  importance  was  attached  to  those  exaggerations 
■which  at  another  time  would  have  attracted  attention.*  Besides, 
a  vast  number  of  these  demoniacs  fell  in  combat  in  the  streets, 
or  were  lost  sight  of  in  prisons,  hospitals,  and  exile.  It  may  be 
well  to  repeat  a  remark  already  made,  which  is,  that  although 
perhaps  the  number  of  insane  in  private  establishments  has  not 
been  increased,  the  disease  has  no  less  left  its  traces,  the  proof 
of  which  will  one  day  be  exhibited  in  those  who  were  conceived 
during  the  impression  of  these  deplorable  times. 

Education,  whose  all-powerful  action  in  the  production  of  op- 
pressive ideas  we  have  already  mentioned  as  being  a  fruitful 
source  of  physical  and  moral  disease,  may,  says  M.  Cerise,  im- 
part single  but  false  notions  ;  in  which  case  there  will  be  error, 
ignorance,  and  prejudice,  but  no  morbid  condition.  Thus  the 
idea  of  a  female  head,  associated  with  the  sensorial  impression 
produced  by  the  moon,  or  that  of  the  tomb  of  a  giant  associated 
with  the  sensorial  impression  occasioned  by  a  mountain,  consti- 
tuted beliefs  of  a  greater  or  less  poetical  character,  without 
danger  to  those  who  admitted  them.  It  is  otherwise  when  the 
association  of  the  idea  with  the  sensation  is  united  with  sensual 
and  sentimental  emotions;  when,  for  example,  the  idea  of  a 
frightful  spectre  is,  from  infancy,  coupled  with  that  of  a  certain 
stone  or  a  birch  tree,  as  is  the  case  in  some  of  our  country  places. f 
These  false  ideas  are,  to  those  who  entertain  them,  the  causes  of 
uneasiness,  fears,  and  torments. 

"False  ideas,"  continues  the  same  author,  "associated  with 
sensual  and  sentimental  emotions,  are  those  which  exert  the 
most  deplorable  influence  on  hallucinations  of  all  periods.  Let 
us  first  mention  those  superstitious  beliefs,  the  relics  of  former 
religions,  which  have  traced  such  deep  furrows  in  popular  tradi- 
tion. When  we  recollect  the  long  course  of  ages  which  have  by 
turns  witnessed  the  reigns  of  magic,  astrology,  sorcery,  divina- 
tion, presages,  invocations,  augurs,  auspices,  necromancy,  the 
cabala,  oracles,  the  interpretation  of  dreams,  pythonesses,  sybils, 
manes,  lares,  talismans,  the  presence  of  demons  in  corporeal 
form,  incubes,  succubes,  familiars,  vampirism,  possession, 
lycantrophy,  ghosts,  shadows,   spectres,  phantoms,  hobgoblins, 

*  Gruddeck,  De  la  Maladie  démocratique. 

t  Cerise,  des  Fonctions  et  des  Maladies  Nerveuses,  Paris,  1842,  1  vol. 
8vo.,  p.  463. 


294  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

sylphs,  fairies,  urchins,  -will-o'-the-wisps,  evil  eye,  enchantments, 
etc.,  can  we  help  sighing  at  the  facility  with  which  man  receives 
error,  and  almost  fancying  that  we  are  destined  to  live  in  the  midst 
of  a  world  of  illusions,  unless  we  trace  it  to  the  sad  consequences 
of  a  false  education,  and  of  a  forgetfulness  of  morality  and 
religion?" 

To  dwell  upon  all  these  causes  would  pass  the  limits  of  this 
work  ;  we  restrict  ourselves,  therefore,  to  the  consideration  of 
some  which  have  prevailed  the  most  in  European  society,  such 
as  the  belief  in  the  power  and  materiality  of  demons,  in  sor- 
cery, in  possession,  magic,  lycantrophy,  ghosts,  vampires,  spi- 
rits, etc. 

The  religion  of  the  ancients,  which  peopled  all  nature  with 
divinities  and  genii  (comprehended  under  the  general  name  of 
demons),  would  naturally  lead  to  a  belief  in  the  power  and 
materiality  of  spirits.  The  influence  which  the  doctrines  of 
Plato,  borrowed  probably  from  those  of  Zoroaster,  exercised 
under  this  point  of  view,  was  immense.  On  studying  the  ideas 
and  manners  of  Grecian  society,  we  see  that  the  philosophy  of 
Plato  was  the  great  law  of  the  schools  of  Alexandria.  They 
were  above  all  else  Platonists,  nor  did  they  cease  to  be  so,  on 
becoming  Christians.  On  the  contrary,  they  attempted  to  re- 
concile the  genius  of  Plato  with  the  severe  and  rigorous  philo- 
sophy of  Christianity.  Thence  arose  so  many  metaphysical  and 
abstruse  discussions,  and  thence  were  derived  the  errors  and 
heresies  of  so  many  celebrated  men.  Saint  Justin,  Saint  Cle- 
ment of  Alexandria,  Origen,  blind  Didymus,  and  many  others, 
belonged  to  the  platonic  school.  But  this  was  confined  to  elegant 
and  polished  society.  Learned  men  disputed  for  and  against, 
and  gained  a  reputation  in  the  schools  or  in  churches  ;  the  minds 
of  the  ignorant,  the  lower  order  of  the  people,  and  the  peasantry, 
took  another  direction,  and  as  they  could  neither  read  nor  write, 
they  were  only  affected  by  the  material  part  of  Christianity. 
They  stopped,  as  it  were,  on  the  threshold.  Unable  to  distinguish 
themselves  in  disputation,  in  controversies  Avith  pagans,  or  in 
the  instruction  of  neophytes,  they  only  adopted  that  part  of 
Christianity  which  was  material,  but  they  adopted  it  rigorously 
and  to  the  letter,  in  its  most  absolute  sense  ;  thus  they  soon 
invested  it  with  terrors,  almost  always  borrowed  from  the  archi- 
tecture or  literature  of  the  times.     In  those  days,  the  halluci- 


CAUSES  OF  HALLUCINATIONS.  295 

nated  were  pursued  by  black  devils,  with  horns,  cloven  feet, 
and  a  long  tail,  as,  in  other  times,  Orestes  was  tormented  by 
Eumenides,  and  terrified  by  the  hissing  of  serpents. 

The  history  of  demons,  propagated  by  ignorance  the  love  of 
the  marvellous,  and  fear,  that  queen  of  the  world  ;  and  received 
by  credulity,  placed  the  human  mind  under  the  yoke  of  a  terror 
which  everything  concurred  to  augment  ;  the  devil  was  univer- 
sally believed  to  have  been  seen,  heard,  or  touched.  Moreover, 
how  could  they  do  otherwise  than  attribute  to  this  sinister  influ- 
ence those  frightful  calamities,  so  eloquently  described  in  the 
correspondence  of  Saint  Jerome,*  which  overwhelmed  the 
Roman  world?  Was  not  the  belief  general  that  the  Huns 
were  infernal  spirits? 

Such  was  the  origin  of  the  hallucinations  which  universally 
reigned  during  several  centuries,  which  still  reign  in  many 
countries,  especially  in  Lapland,  and  of  which  there  are  also 
frequent  examples  in  France,  as  Esquirol,  M.  Macario,  and  our- 
selves can  certify.  The  most  celebrated  men  paid  tribute  to  the 
doctrines  of  the  period,  but  their  hallucinations  had  no  influence 
on  their  reason,  conduct,  or  actions  ;  what  they  did  Avas  the 
result  of  education,  and  did  not  bear  the  impress  of  insanity. 

To  believe  that  demons  existed  in  corporeal  forms,  was  to  admit 
the  possibility  of  forming  compacts  and  relations  with  them,  and 
to  acknowledge  their  power  over  men;  in  other  words,  to  believe 
in  sorcery,  possession,  and  lycantrophy.  The  belief  that  demons 
interfered  in  the  actions  of  life  was  the  source  of  immense  dis- 
orders, which  massacres  and  scaflblds  only  served  to  increase. 
Men,  women,  and  children  persuaded  themselves  that  they  had 
assisted  at  the  Witch's  sabbath,  had  interviews  with  the  devil, 
and  had  seen  persons  sign  a  horrible  compact  with  him.  Judges 
and  ecclesiastics,  giving  faith  to  such  declarations,  condemned 
thousands  of  victims  to  death. 

"In  order  to  comprehend  any  particular  epoch,"  says  the 
author  of  an  able  article  in  the  British  Mevieto,  "it  is  necessary 
to  have  an  exact  picture  of  the  opinions  and  manners  of  the 
time.f"     "  Certainly,  our  brains  are  no  longer,"  as  Hutchinson 

*  Saint  Jerome  et  son  siècle,  introduction  au  Panthéon  littéraire,  pp. 
277,  286,  517,  607,  612,  620,  621,  655, 

t  British  Review,  July,  1830  ;  Parchappe,  Du  Maillet  des  Sorcières  ; 
Host  Zauber-Bibliotek,  oder  von  Zauberei  ;  Theurgei  und  Mantik,  Zau- 


296  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

remarked,  in  speaking  of  Boudin,  "ball-rooms  for  devils  to  dance 
in,"  but  fear  has  taken  other  forms;  and  is  manifested  in  dread 
of  the  police,  of  enemies,  etc." 

It  Tvas,  nevertheless,  an  exalted  and  praiseworthy  principle, 
^hich  gave  birth  to  these  superstitious  beliefs  of  our  ancestors, 
howsoever  absurd  and  sanguinary  they  may  appear  to  us. 

The  desire  to  overstep  the  limits  of  the  visible  world  and  to 
communicate  with  beings  to  whom  a  more  exalted  rank  in  crea- 
tion was  attributed,  would  appear,  at  first  sight,  calculated  to 
exercise  only  a  salutary  influence  on  the  mind.  They  considered 
these  privileged  beings  as  a  kind  of  Jacob's  ladder,  by  which 
they  could  establish  a  communication  between  heaven  and  earth, 
and  receive  direct  divine  influences.  Unhappily,  the  supposi- 
tion of  these  direct  correspondences  with  angelic  natures  gave 
rise  to  a  belief  in  the  possibility  of  an  equal  communication  with 
evil  spirits. 

This  direct  intervention  of  the  devil  in  human  afi"airs  being 
once  recognized,  and  generally  admitted,  would,  by  inevitable 
consequence,  lead  to  all  sorts  of  follies  and  extravagances. 
Every  one  speculated  on  the  subject  according  to  his  peculiar 
turn  of  mind;  and  in  a  short  time  the  foolish  fancies  of  minds, 
weakened  by  sickness  or  misfortune,  were,  by  constant  repetition, 
formed  into  a  kind  of  code  or  system  of  belief,  which,  being  in- 
stilled with  the  first  rudiments  of  instruction,  reduced  the  most 
powerful  minds  beneath  its  influence;  those  even  of  Luther, 
Calvin,  Zuingle,  Ecolampadius,  Melancthon,  and  Knox,  men  so 
prompt  in  detecting  error,  and  so  intrepid  in  exposing  it,  par- 
took of  the  belief  of  their  times.  At  a  later  period,  the  cele- 
brated Sir  Matthew  Hale  pronounced  sentence  of  death  against 
poor  women  accused  of  sorcery  ;  even  Sir  Thomas  Browne,  who 
had  torn  the  veil  from  vulgar  errors,  and  Avho  spoke  in  this  suit, 
declared  "  that  the  convulsions  of  the  accused,  although  arising, 
from  natural  causes,  were  greatly  augmented  by  the  co-opera- 
tion of  the  devil,  who  interposed  on  the  solicitations  of  the 
sorceresses." 

Spinello,  predecessor  of  Milton,  was  the  first,  who,  in  those 
barbarous  times,   imparted  somewhat  of  a  terrible  beauty  to 

beren  Ilexen,  und  Hexen  Processen,  Da3monen,  Gespentern  und  Geister- 
erclieinungen,  Mayence,  1828;  Friedrich,  Systematische  Literatur  der 
ilrztlichen  und  gerietlichen  Psychologie,  p.  2G0,  ct  seq.,  Berlin,  1833. 


CAUSES  OF  HALLUCINATIONS.  297 

Lucifer;  this  innovation  of  genius  did  not  prevent  his  remaining 
faithful  to  the  ideas  of  his  age  ;  his  reason  gave  way  soon  after 
he  had  completed  his  picture  of  the  fall  of  the  angels  ;  he  be- 
lieved himself  pursued  by  the  devils  which  he  had  represented, 
and  died  in  the  midst  of  his  terrors. 

It  was  not  until  1484  that  Magic  began  to  play  an  important 
part  in  history.  The  bull  of  Innocent  the  Eighth  roused  the 
smouldering  fires. 

With  what  terror,  in  the  sixteenth,  or  the  commencement  of 
the  seventeenth  century,  would  the  recital  of  the  visions  of  the 
unhappy  Bachzko,  of  Ivoenigsberg,  be  listened  to,  which  tormented 
him  during  his  political  labors  in  1806;  that  hideous  negro 
seated  opposite  to  him  ;  that  monstrous  owl's  head  watching  him 
every  night  between  the  curtains  ;  those  serpents  tAvisting  around 
his  knees,  as  he  sat,  inditing  his  sentences,  were  well  calcu- 
lated to  inspire  sentiments  of  horror.* 

In  1651,  we  find  the  En^-lishman  Pordao-e  relatinrr  as  actual 
facts,  similar  visions  produced  by  an  over-excitement  of  the 
brain.  He  and  his  disciples,  Jane  Leade,  Thomas  Bromley, 
Hooker,  Sabberton,  and  others,  saw  a  vision  on  their  first  day  of 
assembling,  of  incomparable  magnificence.  The  powers  of  hell 
passed  in  review  before  them  ;  seated  in  chariots  drawn  by 
lions,  bears,  dragons,  and  tigers,  in  the  midst  of  portentous 
clouds.  Next  in  succession  followed  the  inferior  spirits,  with 
ears  of  cats  and  grifiins,  and  distorted  and  twisted  limbs.  These 
visions  were  equally  distinct,  whether  the  disciples  opened  or 
closed  their  eyes,  "for,"  said  their  master,  "we  see  with  the 
eyes  of  the  mind,  not  of  the  body." 

At  the  close  of  the  sixteenth  century.  Dr.  Dee  asserted,  with 
apparent  sincerity,  that  he  was  on  terms  of  intimacy  with  the 
greater  number  of  the  angels';  his  partner,  Dr.  Richard  Napier, 
father  of  the  illustrious  inventor  of  logarithms,  believed  that  he 
received  the  greater  number  of  his  medical  prescriptions  from 
the  angel  Raphael.  At  this  period,  there  were  few  practition- 
ers who  thought  they  could  complete  a  cure  without  the  aid  of 
some  supernatural  power.  In  England,  certain  causes  peculiar 
to  that  nation  contributed  to  induce  a  disposition  to  melancholy, 
and  to  produce  an  undefinable  dread  unknown  at  other  periods 

*  British  Review,  July,  1830,  p.  35. 


y 


298  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

of  her  bistoi'j.  Historians  describe  the  gloomy  character  of  the 
rigid  Puritans  of  that  time,  the  changes  which  occurred  in  noble 
families,  whose  estates  had  been  confiscated  for  the  profit  of  the 
prevailing  sects,  and  the  tales  spread  abroad  by  their  former 
proprietors,  secular  or  religious. 

[Several  pages  following,  it  has  been  thought  unnecessary  to 
translate.  The  obscenities  of  the  pretended  witches'  sabbath, 
and  other  horrors  enacted  under  the  influence  of  supposed  pos- 
session or  witchcraft,  are  traced  to  the  action  of  over-excited 
imaginations  on  ignorant  or  ill-regulated  minds,  and  to  the  use 
of  certain  narcotic  pomades  or  ointments,  with  which  the  sor- 
cerers anointed  themselves,  thereby  producing  horrible  and  sen- 
sual dreams.  The  appearance  and  adoration  of  the  buck,  the 
cat,  and  that  which  is  of  equal  importance  in  sorcery,  the  key, 
are  found  amongst  the  divinities  of  ancient  Egypt,  and  occur 
frequently  on  Egyptian  monuments. — ÏR.] 

We  recognize  but  seldom,  in  the  demonomaniacs  of  the  pre- 
sent day,  the  obscenities  which  marked  that  period.  May  not 
the  reason  be,  that  erotic  ideas  were  then  more  generally  spread, 
in  consequence  of  the  predominance  of  the  instinctive  over  the 
intellectual  faculties  ? 

The  origin  of  lycantrophy  is  traced  to  the  most  ancient  epochs 
of  paganism.  In  this  illusion,  the  unhappy  demented  person 
believed  himself  transformed  into  a  man-wolf.  Sometimes  the 
pretended  transformation  was  caused  by  beverages,  and  poison- 
ous ointments.  The  companions  of  Ulysses,  who  were  meta- 
morphosed into  swine,  are  the  most  ancient  examples.  Herodo- 
tus, in  liis  work,  describes  this  transformation  as  occurring  rather 
frequently.  Saint  Augustin  asserts  that  certain  women  in  Italy 
changed  themselves  into  horses,  by  the  use  of  a  sort  of  poison. 
But  it  was  principally  in  the  fourteenth  and  fifteenth  centuries, 
that  this  singular  illusion  spread  through  Europe.  Cynanthro- 
pes  and  lycanthropes  abandoned  their  dwellings  to  plunge  into 
forests,  allowing  their  nails,  hair,  and  beard  to  grow,  mutilating, 
and  even  sometimes  killing  and  devouring  unfortunate  children. 

Wierus  relates  the  singular  trial  which  occured  at  Besançon, 
in  1521.  It  is  a  case  of  lycantrophy,  which  leaves  no  doubt  of 
the  madness  of  the  accused  and  the  ignorance  of  the  judges. 
The  inquisitor  conducted  the  affair,  and  summoned  the  three 
criminals,  Pierre  Burgot,  Michel  Verdun,  and  le  gros  Pierre. 


CAUSES  OF  HALLUCINATIONS.  299 

All  three  confessed  thej  had  given  themselves  to  the  devil. 
Burgot  owned  that  he  had  killed  a  young  boy  with  his  wolf's 
claws  and  teeth,  and  would  have  eaten  him,  if  the  peasants 
had  not  chased  him.  Michel  Verdun  said  that  he  had  killed 
a  young  girl  who  was  gathering  peas  in  a  garden,  and  that 
he  and  Burgot  had  killed  and  eaten  four  other  girls.  He  pointed 
out  the  time,  the  place,  and  the  ages  of  four  other  children  whom 
they  had  devoured.  He  added,  that  he  and  his  companions 
used  a  powder  which  destroyed  life. 

These  three  wehr  wolves  were  condemned  to  be  burned 
alive.* 

Case  CXXV.  In  the  autumn  of  the  year  XII.,  a  man,  by 
trade  a  mason,  fell  into  a  state  of  melancholy,  without  any 
apparent  cause.  One  night  he  had  strange  visions,  and  before 
morning  had  escaped  into  the  desert.  On  the  second  day  of 
his  attack,  he  refused  all  nourishment  ;  but  two  days  after,  he 
devoured  the  food  that  was  offered  to  him  with  extreme  voracity  ; 
he  howled  like  a  wolf,  and  became  several  times  enraged,  show- 
ing a  disposition  to  bite.  On  the  fourteenth  day,  at  the  approach 
of  night,  he  again  escaped  into  the  fields,  where  he  uttered 
fearful  cries,  which  were  checked  by  affusions  of  cold  water. 
This  singular  disease  terminated  on  the  eighteenth  day  in  a 
violent  attack  of  fever,  which  lasted  nearly  twenty-four  hours. 
His  complete  cure  appeared  finally  to  result  from  natural 
causes. t 

Several  writers  think  that  great  obtuseness  of  feeling  may 
occasion  hallucinations,  which  chiefly  present  themselves  under 
the  form  of  errors  of  personality  in  a  physical  sense.  It  is 
probable  that  this  morbid  disposition  existed  in  a  certain  number 
of  lycantrophes,  in  whom  a  perversion  of  ideas  were  associated 
with  this  symptom,  and  occasioned  their  singular  illusions. 

It  is  curious  to  find  amongst  the  Abyssinians,  in  our  own 
times,  a  superstition  very  nearly  resembling  that  of  the  people 
of  Europe  in  the  Middle  Ages..  Like  them,  they  believe  in  a 
Zoomorphism,  which  is  a  striking  image  of  lycantrophy.  Thus 
the  class  of  pewterers  and  blacksmiths   are  generally  regarded 

*  Bottiger's  iilteste  Spuren  der  Wolforwuth  in  der  Griechischen  Mitho- 
logie,  nobst  Zusiitzen  von  Sprengel  in  dessen  Beitiiigen  zur  Gescli.  der 
med.     Friedreich's  Liturtugesch.  pp.  23,  27. 

t  Mathey,  Nouvelles  recherches  sur  les  Maladies  de  l'esprit,  1816,  p.  96. 


300  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

as  having  the  power  of  transforming  themselves  into  hyenas 
and  other  ferocious  animals,  and  of  causing  diseases  by  their 
looks.  But  instead  of  being  dragged  to  the  scaffold,  like  the 
wehr  wolves  of  the  Middle  Ages,  they  live  dreaded,  but  in 
peace.* 

Mystic  ideas,  from  whence  were  derived  the  greater  part  of 
the  beliefs  that  we  have  described,  were  extremely  favorable  to 
the  production  of  hallucinations.  As  the  conviction  of  their  truth 
was  general,  and  doubt  was  unknown,  their  power  was  unlimited. 
All  minds  were  turned  towards  heaven,  but,  according  to  the 
nature  of  their  sentiments  and  their  impressions,  some  gave 
themselves  up  to  the  rigors  of  penitential  asceticism  ;  fasts, 
macerations,  solitude,  and  fear  of  the  torments  of  hell,  engen- 
dered in  them  the  most  fearful  visions.  Others,  on  the  contrary, 
abandoning  themselves  to  all  the  emotions  of  contemplative 
asceticism,  experienced  ecstasies  and  all  the  ravishment  of  com- 
munication with  celestial  beings.  Amongst  pagans,  for  the 
same  reason,  individuals  of  contracted  ideas  (bilious  tempera- 
ment), were  pursued  by  furies  and  infernal  deities,  whilst  men 
of  expansive  ideas  (sanguine  temperament),  saw  sylphs,  fauns, 
and  the  divinities  of  Olympus. 

A  belief  in  spirits  so  ancient  and  so  universal,  the  certainty 
of  intercourse  with  fauns,  sylphides,  naides,  and  demons  amongst 
the  Greeks,  of  nymphs  amongst  the  Romans,  of  gnomes  and 
genii  in  Eastern  nations,  and  of  fairies,  sylphs,  angels,  and 
demons,  amongst  the  Christians,  have  been  the  origin  of  those 
innumerable  hallucinations,  with  descriptions  of  which  so  many 
volumes  are  filled.  Such  are  the  beliefs  which  gave  rise  to 
accounts  of  souls  in  torment,  entreating  the  intercession  of 
prayer  ;  of  spirits,  who  have  returned  to  reveal  some  particular 
event,  announce  an  approaching  death,  and  return  in  fulfilment 
of  a  compact;  or  of  the  dead,  who  suck  the  blood  of  their  living 
victims. 

It  is  certain  that  a  great  number  of  apparitions  have  appeared 
which,  not  coinciding  with  any  particular  event,  have  sunk  into 
oblivion,  whilst  every  publicity  has  been  given  to  those  Avhich 
by  chance  have  been  realized.  Of  such  a  character  is  the  history 
given  in  the  31o7ide  des  esprits,  by  Beaumont  ;  it  is  one  of  the 

*  Peiirco,  Voyaf^e  en  Abyssinie,  published* by  Lord  Valentin,  British 
Review,  July,  1831.  Brierre  do  Boismont,  De  l'Influence  de  la  Civilisation. 


CAUSES  OF  HALLUCINATIONS.  301 

most  interesting  cases  of  the  kind.  The  heroine  of  the  anec- 
dote, which  happened  in  1662,  was  a  daughter  of  Sir  Charles 
Lee.  No  reasonable  doubt  can  exist  as  to  the  authenticity  of 
the  recital,  as  it  was  written  by  the  Bishop  of  Gloucester,  from 
the  verbal  account  given  by  the  father  of  the  young  lady. 

Case  CXXVI.  The  first  Avife  of  Charles  Lee  died  in  giving 
birth  to  a  little  girl.  Lady  Everard,  a  sister  of  the  deceased, 
undertook  to  bring  up  and  educate  the  child,  a  task  which  she 
faithfully  performed.  The  young  lady  having  arrived  at  a  mar- 
riageable age,  was  betrothed  to  Sir  William  Perkins,  but  the 
marriage  was  blighted  by  a  most  extraordinary  circumstance. 
One  night.  Miss  Lee  observed  a  light  in  her  chamber  ;  she  im- 
mediately called  to  a  servant,  and  inquired  why  she  had  left  a 
lamp  burning.  The  servant  replied  that  there  was  no  other 
light  in  the  room  than  the  one  she  had  just  brought  ;  that  the 
fire  was  entirely  out,  and  probably  her  young  mistress  had  been 
dreaming.  Persuaded  that  such  was  the  case,  she  again  went 
to  sleep.  Towards  two  in  the  morning,  she  awoke,  and  saw  a 
little  woman,  who  told  her  that  she  was  her  mother  ;  that  she 
was  destined  to  happiness,  and  that  she  would  visit  her  again 
the  same  day  at  noon.  Miss  Lee  again  called  her  servant,  whom 
she  desired  to  assist  in  dressing  her,  and  passed  into  her  boudoir. 
There  she  remained  until  nine  o'clock,  bringing  out  with  her  a 
sealed  letter  for  her  father.  This  she  gave  to  her  aunt.  Lady 
Everard,  related  what  had  occurred,  and  requested  her,  when 
she  was  dead,  to  give  the  letter  as  it  was  addressed.  The  aunt, 
imagining  her  niece  to  have  suddenly  gone  mad,  sent  off  in- 
stantly to  Chelmsford  for  a  physician  and  a  surgeon,  who 
hastened  to  attend.  They  could  not  discover  any  signs  of  men- 
tal alienation  ;  but  Lady  Everard,  nevertheless,  desired  that  her 
niece  should  be  bled.  The  young  lady  having  alloAved  them  to 
act  as  they  thought  fit,  requested  that  the  chaplain  might  be 
sent  for  to  recite  prayers  ;  on  the  conclusion  of  which,  she  took 
her  guitar  and  book  of  psalms,  and  played  and  sang  with  such 
perfect  melody,  that  her  music-master,  who  was  present,  was 
both  astonished  and  delighted. 

Towards  noon,  she  arose,  desired  to  be  placed  in  a  large  arm- 
chair, and  heaving  one  or  two  sighs,  expired.  She  grew  cold 
so  rapidly  that  the  surgeon  and  physician  were  astonished.  She 
died  at  Waltham,  in  the  county  of   Essex,  three   miles  from 


302  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

Chelmsford.  The  letter  was  sent  to  Sir  Charles,  in  the  county 
of  Warwick  ;  but  he  was  so  grieved  at  the  distressing  event, 
that  he  did  not  arrive  until  after  the  funeral.  He  had  the  body 
exhumed  and  placed  by  the  side  of  his  wife,  at  Edmonton,  ac- 
cording to  the  request  of  his  daughter.* 

This  case  appears  to  us  to  be  very  readily  explained  ;  imagi- 
nation, in  an  impressible  young  girl,  would  be  much  over-excited 
as  the  fatal  hour  approached.  The  exaltation  of  the  nervous 
system,  in  an  organization  probably  delicate,  was  raised  to  so 
high  a  pitch  that  vital  force  was  exhausted.  As  to  the  revela- 
tion, sensible  minds  will  see  but  a  fortunate  coincidence,  without 
which,  the  history  would  never  probably  have  found  a  recorder. 

In  the  mountains  of  Scotland,  and  in  some  parts  of  Germany, 
a  belief  still  exists  in  the  reality  of  a  wonderful  apparition 
which  appears,  it  is  said,  as  the  presage  of  an  approaching  death. 
The  person  under  the  hallucination  sees  another  self,  a  figure  in 
every  respect  similar  in  form,  feature,  action,  and  dress.  We 
have  already  mentioned  this  phenomenon,  which  the  Germans 
call  Deutêroscopie.'f 

In  a  very  clever  recent  publication,  we  find  an  anecdote  rela- 
tive to  the  famous  Buckingham.  Three  times  did  Sir  George 
Villiers,  father  of  the  duke,  appear  to  an  officer  of  the  ward- 
robe, to  warn  him  of  the  fate  that  threatened  his  son.  But  this 
officer  was  too  low  in  rank  to  acquit  himself  conveniently  of  his 
mission,  and  neglected  to  make  the  warning  known  until  the 
third  appearance  ;  he  then  applied  to  a  gentleman  with  whom  he 
was  on  intimate  terms.  Sir  Ralph  Freeman,  Master  of  the  Be- 
quests, and  persuaded  him  to  demand  an  audience  of  his  Grace, 
in  which,  if  granted,  he  promised  to  reveal  matters  of  the  high- 
est importance.  The  officer  entered  into  the  minutest  details, 
which  had  been  communicated  by  the  spirit,  to  prove  to  the 
duke  that  he  was  no  impostor  ;  and  it  was  noticed  that  he  (the 
duke)  was  very  melancholy  after  the  interview.  But  of  what 
use  was  the  warning  ?  To  create  a  vague  uneasiness  about  a  dan- 
ger, against  which  it  was  impossible  to  guard,  since  the  warning 
was  too  mysterious  to  enable  the  duke  to  take  suitable  precau- 
tions. J 

*  Ilibbert,  op.  cit. 

t  Walter  Scott.     A  Legend  of  Montrose,  ch.  xvii.  note  Wraiths. 

X  George  Brodie,  Esq.,  History  of  the  British  Empire,  vol.  xi. 


CAUSES  OF  HALLUCINATIONS.  303 

Case  CXXVII.  M.  Bezuel,  a  young  student,  fifteen  years  of 
age,  contracted  an  intimacy  with  another  young  man,  named 
Desfontaines.  Having  talked  over  the  compacts  entered  into 
between  persons  who  promised  that  the  one  who  first  died  should 
revisit  the  survivor,  they  entered  into  a  similar  agreement,  which 
they  signed  with  their  blood  (1696).  Shortly  after  this,  they 
parted,  and  Desfontaines  went  to  Caen. 

In  July,  1697,  M.  Bezuel  was  amusing  himself  with  haymak- 
ing, near  to  the  house  of  a  friend,  when  he  became  suddenly 
faint,  which  was  followed  by  a  bad  night's  rest.  Notwithstand- 
ing this  indisposition,  he  returned  to  the  field,  and  again  had  a 
similar  attack.  On  the  third  day,  the  fit  was  more  serious.  "  I 
lost  all  consciousness,''  said  he.  "Persons  came  to  my  assist- 
ance, but  my  mind  was  much  more  disturbed  than  it  had  pre- 
viously been.  Those  who  raised  me  up  asserted  that,  on  being 
questioned  as  to  where  I  felt  pain,  T  replied  :  '  I  have  seen  what 
I  never  expected  to  see.'  I  recollect  neither  the  question  nor 
answer;  it  agrees,  however,  with  my  remembrance  of  the  appa- 
rition of  a  man  who  was  only  half  of  the  ordinary  height,  but 
whose  person  I  did  not  recognize.  A  few  minutes  afterwards, 
on  mounting  a  ladder,  I  saw  my  classmate,  Desfontaines,  at  its 
foot.  At  this  sight,  I  turned  giddy,  my  head  fell  between  two 
of  the  rounds,  and  I  fainted.  They  took  me  down,  and  placed 
me  on  a  piece  of  wood,  which  served  as  a  seat  in  the  great 
square  of  the  Capuchins.  As  soon  as  I  was  seated,  I  no  longer 
perceived  M.  de  Sorteville,  the  master  of  the  house,  nor  his  ser- 
vants ;  but  only  Desfontaines,  who  signed  for  me  to  come  to  him. 
I  drew  back,  as  though  I  would  make  way  for  him.  Those  who 
were  present,  but  whom  I  did  not  see,  remarked  the  movement. 
As  he  stood  still,  I  arose  to  meet  him  ;  he  took  my  left  arm  with 
his  right  hand,  and  led  me  about  thirty  paces  off,  to  an  alley, 
holding  me  very  tightly. 

"  The  servants,  believing  that  I  had  entirely  recovered,  went 
about  their  business,  excepting  a  little  groom,  who  told  M.  de 
Sorteville  that  I  was  talking  to  myself.  He  believed  that  I  was 
intoxicated,  and  approaching,  heard  me  ask  questions  and  make 
replies,  which  he  afterwards  repeated. 

"  My  conversation  with  Desfontaines  lasted  three  quarters  of 
an  hour.  '  I  agreed  with  you,'  said  he,  'that  if  I  died  first,  I 
would  come  and  tell  you  so  ;  I  was  drowned  yesterday,  at  this 


804  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

hour,  in  the  river  at  Caen,  in  company  with  such  and  such  per- 
sons. It  Avas  very  warm,  and  I  took  a  notion  to  bathe,  but 
fainted  on  entering  the  water.  The  Abbé  Meniljean,  my  com- 
panion, plunged  in  to  save  me;  I  seized  him  by  the  foot,  but 
whether  from  fear,  or  as  a  means  of  remounting  to  the  surface, 
he  gave  me  a  violent  kick  on  the  breast,  which  drove  me  again 
to  the  bottom  of  the  river,  which  was  very  deep  in  this  spot.' 

"Desfontaines,"  continues  M.  Bezuel,  "was  larger  than  in 
life.  I  only  perceived  the  half  of  his  body  ;  he  was  naked,  with- 
out a  hat,  with  his  beautiful  light  hair,  and  a  white  paper  on  his 
forehead,  twisted  in  his  hair,  with  writing  upon  it,  but  which 
I  could  not  decipher." 

This  apparition  and  conversation  were  repeated  several  times. 
It  is  an  undoubted  fact,  that  the  death  of  the  young  man  soon 
became  known.  The  celebrated  Abbé  de  St.  Pierre,  who  pub- 
lished the  anecdote,  and  vouches  for  its  authenticity,  accounts 
for  it  by  natural  causes.  It  is  probable  that  the  fainting  of 
Bezuel  was  the  cause  of  the  apparitions.  "  I  know,''  says  Fer- 
riar,  "from  my  own  experience  and  that  of  others,  that  syncope 
is  sometimes  preceded  by  illusions  and  visions,  which  are  only 
reminiscences  of  known  objects.  One  fact  must  be  noticed, 
which  is,  that  the  morbid  impression  often  lasts  long  after  the 
restoration  of  health.  A  man  imagined,  during  a  paroxysm  of 
derangement,  that  a  considerable  property  had  been  left  to  him  ; 
the  idea  did  not  quit  him  on  his  recovery,  and  it  was  with  diffi- 
culty that  he  was  undeceived.* 

The  remembrance  of  the  voice  and  figure  of  an  intimate  friend 
may  cause  an  hallucination.  Such  appears  to  have  been  the  cele- 
brated apparition  of  Ficinus  to  Michel  Mercatus,  which  is  re- 
lated by  Baronius. 

These  illustrious  friends,  after  a  long  conversation  on  the  na- 
ture of  the  soul,  agreed  that  whichever  of  the  two  died  the  first, 
should,  if  possible,  appear  to  the  survivor,  and  inform  him  of 
the  nature  of  the  other  world. 

"Some  time  afterwards,"  says  Baronius,  "it  happened  that, 
whilst  Michel  Mercatus  was  studying  philosophy,  early  in  the 
morning,  he  suddenly  heard  the  sound  as  of  a  horse  galloping, 
which  stopped  at  his  door,  and  the  voice  of  his  friend  Ficinus, 

*  Journal  de  Trévaux,  t.  viii.  p.  1724.     Ferriar,  op.  cit. 


CAUSES  OF  HALLî/ciNATIONS.  305 

who  cried:  "0  Michel,  Michel!  all  those  things  are  true!" 
Surprised  at  these  words,  Mercatus  rose,  and  went  to  the  win- 
dow. He  saw  his  friend,  with  his  back  towards  him,  mounted 
on  a  white  horse. 

Mercatus  called  to  him  and  followed  him  with  his  eyes,  until 
he  disappeared.  He  soon  received  the  news  that  Ficinus  had 
died  at  Florence  at  the  time  of  the  apparition.  The  distance 
that  separated  them  was  considerable. 

This  apparition,  which  aroused  so  much  attention  in  conse- 
quence of  the  exalted  station  of  the  parties,  may  be  explained 
by  the  following  circumstances:  The  study  of  Plato  and  the 
idea  of  his  friend  caused  an  hallucination  favored  by  the  silence 
of  the  morning.  Baronius  adds  that  Mercatus  abandoned  his 
profane  studies  and  devoted  himself  to  theology.* 

Should  circumstances,  which  appear  to  have  occasioned  sud- 
den conversions  in  unbelievers,  be  always  referred  to  the  influ- 
ence of  mysticism,  or  to  hallucinations  of  sight  and  hearing? 
In  a  religious  point  of  view,  we  cannot  subscribe  to  this  opinion  ; 
we  are  convinced  that  God  may  make  use  of  supernatural  means 
to  call  wandering  men  to  himself;  to  believe  otherwise,  would 
be  to  reject  the  authority  of  Holy  Writ.f 

Case  CXXVIII.  Colonel  Gardiner  had  passed  the  evening 
amongst  his  gay  companions.  He  had  made  an  appointment 
precisely  at  midnight  with  a  married  woman.  The  company  sepa- 
rated at  eleven,  and  he,  not  wishing  to  go  to  his  appointment  be- 
fore the  hour,  went  up  to  his  room  to  amuse  himself  with  a  book. 
By  chance,  he  took  up  a  religious  book,  which  his  grandmother,  or 
his  aunt,  had  slipped  into  his  portmanteau,  entitled  The  Christian 
Soldier,  or  Seaven  taken  hy  Assault.  Judging,  by  its  title, 
that  he  would  be  entertained  by  the  use  of  professional  phrases, 
applied  in  a  spiritual  sense,  he  resolved  to  read  it  carefully. 
Notwithstanding  this  determination,  he  could  not  fix  his  atten- 

*  De  Apparitionibus  Mortuorum,  vivis  et  pacto  factis,  Lips.  1709. — Baro- 
nii  Annales.  Baronius  had  this  history  from  the  grandson  of  Mercatus, 
prothonotary  of  the  Church,  a  man  of  the  greatest  probity  and  learning. 

t  There  is,  however,  an  important  distinction  to  be  made  relative  to 
mysticism.  Taken  in  general,  it  is  not  a  disease  of  the  mind  ;  it  rests  upon 
actual  facts,  and  supplies  a  real  vrant.  Mysticism  is  grand  and  beauti- 
ful; but  it  must  be  regulated.  Without  this  check,  we  are  liable  to  fall 
into  exaggeration  and  errors  of  sentiment. 

20 


306  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

tion  on  it.  Whilst  he  held  the  book  in  his  hand,  God  vouchsafed 
him  a  vision,  which  bore  the  happiest  and  most  important  re- 
sults. He  perceived  an  extraordinary  light  fall  on  his  book, 
which  he  at  first  attributed  to  the  lamp,  but,  raising  his  eyes, 
he  saw,  to  his  great  astonishment,  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  on  the 
Cross,  encircled  with  a  glory.  At  the  same  time  a  voice  uttered 
these  words  :  "  0,  sinner  !  see  to  what  a  condition  thy  crimes 
have  reduced  me!"  This  apparition  produced  such  a  profound 
effect  upon  the  colonel  that  he  renounced  his  style  of  life,  and 
became  a  very  religious  character.* 

To  this  example,  which  has  been  cited  as  a  favorable  interpo- 
sition of  the  Divinity,  another  has  been  opposed,  which  happened 
in  the  seventeenth  century  to  one  of  the  most  powerful  enemies 
of  Christianity,  and  which  resulted  in  an  encouragement  to  pub- 
lish a  work  containing  his  very  dangerous  opinions. 

Case  CXXIX.  "My  book,  De  veritate  2^rout  distinguitur  a 
revelatione  verisimile  possihili  et  a  f also,"  relates  Lord  Herbert, 
"which  I  had  commenced  in  England,  was  nearly  finished;  all  the 
hours  which  I  could  steal  from  visits  and  negotiations  were  devoted 
to  its  completion  ;  this  at  length  being  achieved,  I  hastened  to 
show  it  to  Tilenus  and  to  Hugo  Grotius,  an  illustrious  savant, 
who,  having  escaped  from  Holland,  had  taken  refuge  in  France. 
They  praised  it  much,  and  exhorted  me  to  publish  it. 

"I  felt  the  approval  of  two  such  learned  men  as  a  great  encou- 
ragement, but,  on  the  other  hand,  the  opposition  which  I  foresaw 
it  would  encounter  made  me  hesitate.  One  fine  day,  about 
noon,  my  windows  being  open,  I  took  my  book,  knelt  down,  and 
pronounced  aloud  these  words  : — 

"  '  0,  eternal  God,  Creator  of  the  light  which  illuminates  me, 
thou  who  enlightenest  souls  when  thou  wouldst,  tell  me  by  a 
celestial  sign  if  I  should  publish  or  suppress  my  work — '  I  had 
hardly  uttered  these  words,  than  a  loud,  but  agreeable  sound, 
proceeded  from  heaven,  which  impressed  me  with  such  great 
joy,  that  I  felt  convinced  that  my  request  was  granted. 

"Howsoever  strange  this  may  appear,  I  protest,  before  God, 
not  only  that  I  heard  the  sound,  but  saw,  in  the  clearest  sky  on 
which  I  ever  gazed,  the  spot  whence  it  came.     In  consequence 

*  Hibbert,  Sketches  of  the  Philosophy  of  Apparitions,  2d  edition,  Edin- 
burgh, 1825,  p.  324. 


CAUSES  OP  HALLUCINATIONS.  307 

of  this  sign,  I  published  my  book,  and  spread  it  throughout  all 
Christian  lands,  amongst  all  the  learned  capable  of  reading  and 
appreciating  it." 

Dr.  Leland,  in  his  Essay  on  Deistical  Writers,  does  not  ques- 
tion the  truth  of  the  recital  of  the  noble  lord.*  One  cannot 
but  be  struck,  on  reading  this  case,  with  the  inconsistency  of 
the  human  mind.  Here  is  a  man  preparing  to  launch  forth  a 
work  against  revelation,  who  supplicates  the  Deity  for  a  special 
revelation.  In  good  logic,  it  appears  to  us  impossible  to  esta- 
blish the  slightest  resemblance  between  this  case  and  that  of 
Colonel  Gardiner. 

When  men  are  influenced  by  superstition  and  terror,  no  ideas 
are  too  strange  to  appear  to  them  realities.  One  of  the  most 
singular  follies  of  this  character  is  that  known  as  vampirism, 
traces  of  which  are  found  in  the  stryges  of  the  Talmud.  This 
kind  of  epidemic  reigned  in  the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth 
century,  in  several  parts  of  Hungary,  Moravia,  Silesia,  and 
Lorraine.  The  peasantry  who  were  attacked  by  it  believed  that 
the  souls  of  their  enemies  could  appear  to  them  after  death, 
under  different  forms.  Some  dreamed  that  these  malicious 
spectres  took  them  by  the  throat,  and,  having  strangled  them, 
sucked  their  blood.  Others  believed  that  they  actually  saw 
these  cruel  monsters. 

Mystic  ideas  in  an  expansive  form,  by  exalting  the  imagina- 
tion, produced  those  numerous  instances  of  ecstasies  of  which 
we  have  already  spoken,  and  whose  characteristics  were  of  a 
natui'e  quite  celestial.  To  this  influence,  must  be  assigned  the 
apparitions  and  auditions  of  the  imaginary  chorus  of  Paracelsus, 
of  the  convulsionists  and  Shakers,  the  ecstatics  of  the  Cevennes, 
the  possessed  of  Loudun,  the  convulsionists  of  Cornouailles,  and 
of  the  Shetland  Isles,  etc. 

In  noting  the  ideas  which  contribute  still  more  to  the  produc- 
tion of  hallucinations,  we  have  invited  attention  to  some  of  the 
beliefs  of  the  Middle  Ages  ;  but  in  order  to  appreciate  the 
influence  of  this  era  of  strange  deceptions,  numerous  errors, 
beautiful  dreams,  magnificent  fancies,  and  immortal  fictions,  it 
appears  indispensable  to  cast  a  glance  on  the  grotesque,  terrible, 
or  benevolent  beings,  with  which  it  was  formerly  peopled. f 

*  Autobiography  of  Lord  Herbert,  of  Cherbury,  v.  Ilibbert,  p.  227. 

t  Ferdinand  Denis,  Le  monde  enchanté,  cosmographie  ou  histoire  natu- 


308  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

The  barbarians  did  not  only  bring  with  them  devastation  and 
death  ;  they  inculcated  their  religious  creeds  into  all  minds. 
The  Roman  people  heard  for  the  first  time  of  Himenberg,  that 
celestial  city  whose  only  access  was  by  the  rainbow;  of  Niflein, 
a  subterranean  world,  traversed  by  poisonous  streams  ;  of  the 
wolf  Fenris,  who  was  strong  enough  to  destroy  the  world  ;  of  the 
serpent  Yormongadur,  whose  folds  encircled  the  globe  ;  of 
Grasvitnir,  whose  hissings  were  terrible  ;  and  of  the  colossal 
Eskthirnir,  the  buck  with  the  gigantic  horn,  whence  falls  the 
primitive  fountain  from  which  all  streams  flow. 

The  Hun,  born  of  demoniac  intercourse,  and  who  was  believed 
to  devour  men,  gave  rise  to  the  fable  of  the  Ogre. 

In  listening  to  such  recitals,  men  to  whom  antiquity  had  be- 
queathed centaurs,  minotaurs,  satyrs,  fauns,  pans,  and  segypans, 
and  who  imagined  they  still  met  with  these  beings  in  solitary 
places,  could  not  pause  on  so  promising  a  road  ;  marvellous  crea- 
tions were  therefore  constantly  suggested  to  their  minds.  The 
oblong  coffer  of  Cosmao,  divided  into  two  compartments,  is  not 
the  least  curious  amongst  them.* 

There  was  suddenly  a  great  silence.  These  barbarous  super- 
stitions had  merged  into  the  paradise  and  hell  of  the  Christian  ; 
and  the  breath  of  Mohammed  blew  all  wonderful  fables  to  an- 
other part  of  the  world. 

But  the  latter  years  of  the  ninth  century  were  thrown  into  a 
state  of  violent  perturbation  by  the  erroneous  interpretation  of 
the  dogmas  contained  in  Holy  Writ.  All  men,  in  the  general 
consternation,  looked  for  the  end  of  the  world.  In  order  to  form 
a  just  idea  of  the  terror  which  brooded  over  Europe,  the  formid- 
able pictures  of  the  eleventh  and  twelfth  centuries  must  be 
studied. 

Christian  belief,  developed  in  the  midst  of  these  depressing 
feelings,  and  the  anguish  inspired  by  the  anticipation  of  the 
destruction  of  the  world,  were  extremely  favorable  to  the  pro- 
duction of  demoniac  ideas,  whose  rapid  propagation  is  explained 
by  the  causes  we  have  related. 

Natural  history  also  contributed  its  share  to  enlarge  the  er- 
rors of  imagination,  by  extending  the   field  of  fiction.     The 

relie  et  fantastique  du  moyen  âge,  Paris,  1843.     Bekker,  Le  monde  en- 
chanté, 4  vols.  18mo.  Amsterdam,  1694. 
*  Letronne,  Revue  des  Deux  Mondes.    Daunon,  Hist.  Litt.  de  la  France. 


CAUSES  OF  HALLUCINATIONS.  309 

existence  of  the  phœnix,  the  roc,  and  the  winged  serpent,  were 
all  sincerely  believed.  The  bones  of  the  mastodon  were  looked 
on  as  those  of  giants.  The  air  was  filled  with  horrible  dragons, 
basilisks,  and  winged  serpents.  The  caverns  were  inhabited  by 
monsters  with  eyes  that  darted  flames.  The  seas  were  the  abode 
of  the  kraken,  of  the  sea-monk,  and  of  the  sea-bishop. 

The  Talmud  improved  upon  these  strange  conceptions,  by 
affirming  the  existence  of  liliths,  a  kind  of  cherubim,  lamias,  ser- 
pentiform  spectres,  and  stryges,  a  sort  of  vampire,  who  greedily 
sucked  the  breasts  of  children. 

The  discovery  of  America  gave  a  new  direction  to  the  human 
mind.  Adventurers  roamed  through  a  thousand  perils  in  search 
of  the  El  Dorado,  the  terrestrial  paradise,  and  the  Fountain 
of  Youth.  The  vast  forests  of  Malabar  were  said  to  be  peopled 
with  singular  creatures,  uniting  in  their  fantastic  forms  the  re- 
ligious reveries  of  India  with  those  of  Europe.  Feijoo,  the 
Voltaire  of  Spain,  says,  "  Lies  are  like  serpents,  endlessly  mul- 
tiplied." 

The  traditions  of  the  Middle  Ages,  driven  out  before  the 
science  of  the  sixteenth  century,  sought  a  last  asylum  in  the 
New  World,  where  they  wellnigh  recovered  all  their  vigor. 

This  sketch,  too  short  for  some,  for  others  perhaps  too  long, 
appeared  needful,  in  order  to  show  how  this  union  of  the  mar- 
vellous and  the  terrible,  of  faith  and  of  ignorance,  which  dur- 
ing a  lengthened  period  of  the  Middle  Ages  was  the  code  of 
mankind,  gave  rise  to  a  multitude  of  false  ideas,  the  real  causes 
of  those  hallucinations,  traces  of  which  are  found  on  every  page 
of  history.  But  it  must  also  be  understood  why  they  are  not 
considered  a  symptom  of  insanity.  Those  who  experienced 
them,  yielded  to  the  opinions  of  the  times  ;  but  they  were  no 
less  capable  of  fulfilling  the  duties  of  social  life.  Their  imagi- 
nations, strongly  excited  by  recitals,  beliefs,  and  the  absence 
of  all  doubt,  saw  what  others  believed  they  had  seen.  The  im- 
pulse, once  given,  was  rapidly  communicated  ;  but  there  was  no 
incongruity  in  their  words  or  their  actions.  The  error  was  that 
of  society,  not  of  the  individual. 

In  order  to  complete  this  portion  of  our  work,  it  was  necessary 
to  seek  out  the  causes  of  the  hallucinations  which  occurred  under 
different  conditions  of  society.     What  has  been  already  said, 


310  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

exhibits  the  consequences  attendant  on  beliefs,  passions,  prejudg- 
ments, and  manners.  Thus,  in  reading  the  history  of  apparitions 
described  by  the  Greeks  and  Romans,  they  will  be  found  to  vary 
according  to  the  different  doctrines  professed  by  the  learned  on 
this  subject,  which,  in  course  of  time,  began  to  prevail  amongst 
the  multitude.  In  almost  all  ancient  nations,  they  were  of  a 
religious  character.  The  importance  awarded  to  dreams  in 
Egypt,  Greece,  and  amongst  the  Romans,  will  account  for  the 
multitude  of  apparitions,  warnings,  and  communications  with 
which  the  history  of  this  people  abounds.  This  form  of  hal- 
lucinations showed  itself  with  equal  frequency  in  the  Lower 
Empire.  One  of  the  monarchs  most  noted  for  his  philosophic 
knowledge,  Julian,  saw  the  genius  of  the  empire,  with  all  the 
insignia  of  mourning,  a  few  days  before  his  battle  with  the  Per- 
sians. 

In  the  ninth  century,  a  father,  inconsolable  for  the  loss  of  his 
son,  the  Emperor  Basil,  of  Macedonia,  had  recourse  to  the 
prayers  of  a  celebrated  pontiff,*  and  saw  that  beloved  son, 
magnificently  dressed  and  mounted  on  a  superb  horse.  The 
phantom  ran  towards  him,  threw  himself  into  his  arms,  and 
vanished. t 

Almost  all  the  Eastern  apparitions  represented  good  or  evil 
genii,  guarding  treasures  or  palaces,  angels  sent  by  Mohammed  to 
console  believers  or  to  warn  the  wicked  of  punishments  reserved 
for  them.  In  India,  where  life  is  a  long  act  of  religious  observ- 
ance, the  least  infraction  of  which  is  punished  in  the  severest 
manner,  we  find  religious  hallucinations,  modified  by  its  climate 
and  its  dogmas. 

It  only  remains,  in  reference  to  the  action  of  moral  causes  on 
the  production  of  hallucinations,  to  speak  of  some  particular 
influences,  the  study  of  which  offers  more  than  a  general  in- 
terest. 

Fear  has  always  the  same  foundation,  but  its  forms  vary  with 
different  epochs.  This  sensation  has  created,  especially  since 
the  revolution  of  1789,  a  great  variety  of  hallucinated  persons, 
who  believe  themselves  to  be  pursued  by  enemies,  police  ofiicers, 

*  Theodore  Santabaren,  Abbé,  Archbishop  of  the  Zachaites. 
t  Eusebius  Salverte,  op.  cit.     V,  Glycas,  Annal,  partie  iv.  p.  296.     Leo 
Grammat,  in  vita  Basil,  imp.  20. 


CAUSES  OF  HALLUCINATIONS.  311 

and  even  by  public  executioners.  This  form  is,  without  doubt, 
frequently  combined  with  melancholy  monomania,  but  observa- 
tion has  proved  that  the  hallucination  may  exist  alone. 

Case  CXXX.  A  clerk  in  a  house  of  business  discovered  that 
the  warehouse  had  been  robbed  ;  he  fell  into  a  state  of  deep 
despair,  then  exclaimed  that  he  was  sought  for  ;  he  saw  the 
gendarmes  surround  the  house  ;  the  scaffold  was  prepared, 
the  executioner  ready  to  immolate  him.  It  was  in  vain  to 
attempt  to  prove  to  him  that  all  this  existed  but  in  his  imagina- 
tion ;  he  could  see  only  the  scaffold  and  the  gendarmes.  To 
escape  this  imaginary  death,  he  committed  suicide.  This  fact, 
which  we  noticed  at  the  commencement  of  our  professional 
career,  put  us  on  our  guard  against  this  class  of  diseases  ;  it 
was  well  that  we  did  so  ;  for  all  patients  presenting  this  class  of 
hallucinations,  have  attempted  to  destroy  themselves. 

Case  CXXXI.  Clergeaud  being  condemned  to  death  by  the 
assize  court  of  Périgueux,  on  a  charge  of  poisoning,  was  seized 
with  a  sort  of  vertigo  on  his  entrance  into  prison.  He  recog- 
nized no  one.  An  hallucination  painted  one  of  the  jailers  to  his 
mind  as  the  executioner,  whom  he  thought  every  instant  about 
to  put  him  to  death. 

Towards  evening,  Clergeaud  became  calm,  his  senses  returned 
and  hope  re-entered  his  heart.* 

Madness  is,  more  frequently  than  is  believed,  the  result  of 
remorse.  This  remark  often  applies  to  hallucinations.  Semi- 
ramus  saw  constantly  the  pallid  countenance  of  Ninus.  The 
account  of  the  death  of  Surgeon  Manoury  presents  a  positive 
proof  of  the  fact,  besides  which  it  explains  the  hallucinations  of 
several  criminals. 

Case  CXXXII.  Manoury,  the  enemy  of  Urbain  Grandier, 
was  chosen  on  the  26th  April,  1634,  to  examine  if,  as  the  prioress 
asserted,  some  part  of  his  body  was  insensible.  This  task  he 
performed  with  so  much  barbarity,  that  one  cannot  think  of  the 
sufferings  of  the  unfortunate  victim  without  shuddering  with 
horror.f  He  repented  of  his  cruelty  ;  for  one  night  about  ten 
o'clock,  as  he  was  returning  from   a  distant  part  of  the  town, 

*  Gazette  des  Tribuneux,  2d  May,  1844. 

t  See  the  admirable  episode  of  the  torture  of  Urbain  Grandier,  in  the 
Cinq-Mars  of  M.  de  Vigny. 


312  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

where  he  had  been  to  visit  a  patient,  in  company  with  his  bro- 
ther and  another  man,  he  suddenly  exclaimed,  with  a  start  : 
"Ah!  there  is  Grandier  !  What  do  you  want  with  me  ?"  and 
immediately  fell  into  a  trembling  and  a  frenzy,  from  which  they 
could  not  recover  him.  They  took  him  home,  raving  of  Gran- 
dier, who  seemed  to  be  always  before  him,  and  put  him  to  bed 
with  the  same  trembling  and  horror.  During  the  four  days 
longer  that  he  survived,  his  condition  did  not  change.  He  died, 
still  believing  that  Grandier  was  before  him,  and  endeavored  to 
repulse  him,  whilst  he  talked  in  a  terrible  manner.* 

Sully  reports  that  the  lonely  hours  of  Charles  IX.  became 
dreadful  by  a  repetition  of  the  cries  and  shrieks  which  he  heard 
during  the  massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew.  "  King  Charles," 
says  that  illustrious  minister,  "  hearing,  on  the  evening  of  the 
day  and  during  all  the  following  day,  accounts  of  the  slaughter 
of  old  men,  women,  and  children,  took  aside  Maître  Amboise 
Paré,  his  principal  surgeon,  whom  he  much  loved,  although  he 
was  of  the  new  religion,  and  said  to  him:  'Amboise,  I  do  not 
know  what  has  happened  to  me  for  the  last  two  or  three  days, 
but  I  am  deeply  troubled,  both  in  body  and  mind  ;  I  am  always 
in  terror  ;  for  at  all  times,  whether  asleep  or  awake,  I  seem  to 
see  those  murdered  bodies,  covered  with  blood,  and  making 
hideous  faces  at  me.  I  wish  the  old  people  and  children  had 
been  spared.'  "f 

When  the  mind  is  oppressed  by  a  great  crime,  monomania  is 
at  hand,  and  accusing  voices  frequently  terrify  the  culprit  so 
greatly  as  to  drive  him  mad.  In  this  manner  can  be  explained 
the  terrors  of  people  in  a  neighborhood  where  great  massacres 
have  taken  place. 

Case  CXXXIII.  In  1623  or  1624,  a  man  named  Fletcher,  a 
considerable  land-owner,  of  Rascal,  a  town  in  Yorkshire,  mar- 
ried a  young  woman  who  had  formerly  been  on  terms  of  inti- 
macy with  Ralph  Raynal,  an  innkeeper,  living  on  the  York  road, 
about  half  a  mile  from  Rascal,  and  whose  sister  lived  with  him. 
The  connection  being  continued  after  the   young  woman  had 

*  Sauzé,  Essai  Médico-historique  sur  les  possédés  de  Loudun,  p.  45, 
Paris,  1839. 

t  Collection  des  Mémoires  relatifs  à  l'Histoire  de  France,  2  série,  t.  i. 
p.  245. 


CAUSES  OF  HALLUCINATIONS.  313 

married,  she,  not  finding  herself  sufficiently  free,  projected,  to- 
gether with  a  person  named  Marth  Dunn,  the  death  of  her 
husband.  In  May,  the  deed  Avas  committed  by  Raynal  and 
Dunn,  by  drowning  Fletcher,  on  his  return  from  the  town  of 
Herby.  The  woman,  who  was  apprised  of  the  murder,  gave 
them  a  sack,  in  which  they  placed  the  body.  It  was  buried  be- 
hind Raynal's  house,  in  a  spot  from  whence  they  had  torn  the 
roots  of  an  old  oak  and  had  planted  it  with  mustard-seed,  in  order 
the  better  to  conceal  the  crime.  The  neighbors  were  much  sur- 
prised at  Fletcher's  absence,  but  his  wife  said  that  he  had  ab- 
sconded, to  be  out  of  the  way  of  a  writ.  Things  went  on  thus 
until  the  7th  of  July,  when  Raynal,  whilst  saddling  his  horse, 
to  go  to  Topcliffe  Fair,  saw  the  ghost  of  Fletcher  suddenly  start 
up  before  him.  "  0,  Ralph  !"  it  said,  "repent,  repent,  for  my 
vengeance  is  at  hand."  From  that  time  until  his  imprisonment, 
the  spirit  never  left  him,  which  made  him  melancholy  and  sleep- 
less. His  sister,  hearing  from  another  person,  this  confession, 
and  alarmed  on  her  own  account,  revealed  it  to  Sir  William 
Sheffield,  a  magistrate,  who  lived  at  Rascal. 

They  were  all  three  arrested  and  put  in  York  prison  ;  they 
were  condemned,  and  executed  on  the  spot  where  Fletcher  was 
buried.* 

The  punishment  of  Beaufort,  the  assassin  of  the  Duke  of 
Gloucester,  was  accompanied  by  terrible  circumstances.  A  prey 
to  all  the  agonies  of  despair,  he  offered  immense  riches  to  the 
dead,  if  he  would  grant  him  a  respite  of  a  few  days.  A  few 
minutes  before  his  death,  he  appeared  to  suffer  the  torment  of 
the  damned.  With  both  hands  spread  out  before  him,  he  ex- 
claimed: "Begone  !  begone  !  why  dost  thou  look  at  me  thus  ?" 
an  evident  proof  that  some  horrible  spectre  was  before  him,  no 
doubt  that  of  his  victim. 

M.  L'Abbé  Guillon,  in  his  Entretiens  sur  le  Suicide,  has  re- 
lated the  remarkable  case  of  a  duellist  who  had  killed  seventeen 
persons  in  single  combat,  and  who  was  everywhere  pursued  by 
the  phantoms  of  his  victims. 

The  following  relation  is  a  convincing  proof  of  the  influence 
of  remorse  on  hallucinations  : — 

Case  CXXXIV.  Jarvis  Matcham  was  pay-sergeant  of  a  regi- 

*  Webster  on  Witchcraft,  p.  296.    Webster  had  attended  the  trial. 


314  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

ment,  and  was  esteemed  a  correct  and  well-behaved  man.  Profit- 
ing by  this  reputation,  he  found  it  easy  to  abstract  a  considera- 
ble portion  of  the  money  placed  in  his  hands  for  the  purpose  of 
paying  the  men,  engaging  recruits,  and  other  matters  in  his 
department.  He  was  recalled  to  his  regiment  from  a  town 
where  he  had  been  raising  recruits  ;  perhaps  there  were  some 
suspicions  against  him.  Matcham  saw  that  the  discovery  was  at 
hand,  and  would  have  deserted,  but  for  the  presence  of  a  little 
drummer-boy,  who  had  been  sent  on  alone  to  recall  him.  In 
the  despair  inspired  by  his  crime,  he  resolved  to  assassinate  the 
poor  child,  and  to  escape  with  the  money  that  still  remained  in 
his  hands.  He  the  more  readily  determined  on  this  course,  as 
he  looked  on  the  boy  as  a  spy.  Having  committed  the  crime, 
he  changed  his  dress,  crossed  the  fields,  and  reached  an  inn  on 
the  Portsmouth  road  ;  there  he  stopped,  and  desired  to  be 
aroused  when  the  first  stage  passed.  The  boy  to  whom  he  gave 
the  order  did  as  he  was  desired  ;  and,  long  afterwards,  recollected 
that  when  he  shook  Matcham  by  the  shoulder,  in  order  to 
awaken  him,  the  first  words  that  he  uttered,  were  :  "  My  God  ! 
I  did  not  kill  him." 

Matcham  arrived  at  Portsmouth  by  the  stage,  and  immediately 
engaged  himself  as  a  marine.  His  sobriety  and  faithfulness 
to  his  duty  made  him  equally  esteemed  by  his  superiors  in  this 
service  as  he  had  been  in  the  army.  He  passed  several  years 
at  sea,  and  was  noticed  for  his  good  conduct  on  several  occasions. 
Finally,  his  vessel  entered  Plymouth  harbor  ;  the  crew  were  paid 
off,  and  several  marines  dismissed  as  too  old  for  service.  Jar- 
vis  Matcham  was  of  the  number.  He  resolved,  with  another 
marine,  to  visit  the  city,  and  took  the  road  to  Salisbury.  At 
the  distance  of  two  or  three  miles  from  that  celebrated  city, 
they  were  overtaken  by  a  storm,  accompanied  with  lightning  and 
such  terrible  claps  of  thunder  that  the  conscience  of  the  aged 
sinner  began  to  be  awakened.  He  exhibited  an  excess  of  terror 
very  unnatural  in  a  man  familiarized  with  the  war  of  the  ele- 
ments, and  began  to  look  so  wild,  and  talk  so  incoherently,  that 
his  companion  easily  saw  he  was  agitated  by  some  extraordinary 
excitement. 

Finally,  Matcham  complained  that  the  stones  left  the  road  to 
run  after  him,  and  begged  his  comrade  to  walk  on  the  other  side 
of  the  way,  to  see  if  the  stones  would  follow  him  when  alone. 


CAUSES  OF  HALLUCINATIONS.  315 

The  marine  complied,  and  Matcham  insisted  that  they  still  fol- 
lowed him,  but  not  his  companion.  "But  there  is  something 
still  worse,"  said  he,  coming  close  up,  and  speaking  in  a  mys- 
terious undertone.  "Who  is  that  little  drummer  ?  What  does 
he  mean  by  following  us  so  closely?" — "I  do  not  see  any  one," 
replied  his  comrade,  struck  with  the  contagion  of  superstitious 
terror  evinced  by  his  companion.  "How?  You  do  not  see  that 
child  with  bloodstained  trowsers?"  cried  the  murderer,  in  a  tone 
which  so  terrified  his  comrade,  that  he  conjured  him,  if  anything 
was  weighing  on  his  conscience,  to  relieve  his  mind  as  much  as 
possible  by  making  a  confession. 

The  criminal  heaved  a  profound  sigh  and  declared  that  it  was 
impossible  for  him  any  longer  to  endure  the  agonies  he  had  suf- 
fered for  several  years  past  ;  he  then  acknowledged  the  murder, 
and  added  that,  as  a  considerable  reward  had  been  offered  for 
his  apprehension,  he  desired  that  his  companion  would  give  him 
up  to  the  authorities  in  Salisbury,  being  desirous  that  an  old 
comrade  should  profit  by  his  unhappy  fate,  which  now  seemed 
inevitable. 

Having  overcome  the  objections  made  by  his  friend  to  this 
proceeding,  he  was  taken  before  a  magistrate  in  Salisbury,  where 
he  made  a  complete  confession.  Before  his  trial,  however,  the 
love  of  life  prevailing,  he  retracted  his  avowal,  and  declared  him- 
self innocent.  But  proofs  had  been  obtained,  which  left  no 
doubt  of  his  guilt  ;  witnesses  from  his  own  regiment  proved  his 
identity  with  the  deserter  and  assassin;  the  boy  in  the  inn, 
where  he  had  slept,  recollected  the  remarkable  words  he  had 
uttered  on  awaking.  Jarvis  Matcham  was  condemned.  When 
all  hope  of  life  was  over,  he  confirmed  his  first  confession,  and, 
to  the  last,  persisted  in  the  reality  of  the  vision  he  had  seen  on 
Salisbury  Plain. 

"Many  similar  cases,"  says  Sir  Walter  Scott,  "might  be  re- 
lated, proving  that,  by  the  will  of  God,  the  influence  of  a  su- 
perstitious terror  may  be  a  means  used  by  Providence  to  excite 
repentance  in  the  heart  of  a  criminal  for  the  salvation  of  his 
soul,  and  to  insure  his  punishment  for  the  benefit  of  society." 

Physicians  to  the  insane  have  all  remarked  that  hallucinations 
are  often  manifested  in  subjects  powerfully  preoccupied  by  an 
idea,  or  a  passion.  The  celebrated  Esquirol  says,  in  his  work, 
that  they  generally  bear  relation  to  the  occupations  of  mind 


316  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

or  of  body  of  the  person  affected,  or  that  they  are  linked  with 
the  nature  of  the  cause  that  has  produced  the  overthrow  of  rea- 
son. "Hallucinations,"  he  adds,  "may  also  be  the  effects  of 
voluntary  or  forced  repetition  of  the  same  action  of  the  brain."* 
When  recollections  and  reminiscences  acquire  the  vivacity  of 
first  impressions,  or  when  the  same  sensations  are  prolonged,  it 
becomes  impossible  to  make  the  distinction.  This  happens,  when 
the  brain,  being  occupied  incessantly  with  one  object,  is  over- 
excited. Thoughts  become  as  palpable  to  the  senses  of  sight 
and  hearing,  as  if  the  images  and  sounds  came  from  without, 
and  reason  wanders,  deceived  by  fallacious  sensations. 

Case  CXXXV.  In  October,  1833,  a  woman,  aged  twenty- 
eight,  born  in  Piedmont,  went  to  a  village-ball  ;  she  danced 
during  three  days  in  a  sort  of  frenzy,  and  afterwards  heard, 
without  cessation,  the  melodies  which  had  charmed  her.  They 
were  Montferrines,  and  each  gave  place  successively  to  the 
other.  This  hallucination  affected  the  vital  functions,  and 
terminated  in  nervous  consumption.  Dr.  Brosserie  observed  that 
the  musical  sounds  increased  with  the  disease,  and  did  not  abate, 
until  they  ceased  in  death. f 

Case  CXXXVI.  T^sd,  whose  passion  for  the  Princess 
d'Este  was  the  origin  of  all  his  misfortunes,  finally  believed  that 
there  was  a^imiliar_^enius  who  delighted  to  converse  with  him; 
he  pretended  to  have  learned  things  from  it,  which  he  had  nei- 
ther read  nor  heard,  and  which  none  had  known  before  him. 
J.  B.  Manso,  his  friend,  said  that,  being  one  day  at  Bisaccio, 
near  Naples,  he  endeavored  to  convince  him  that  he  labored 
under  an  illusion  ;  when  the  poet  replied  :  "  Since  nothing  that 
I  can  say  will  satisfy  you,  you  shall  be  convinced  by  expe- 
rience, and  you  shall  see,  with  your  own  eyes,  that  spirit  of 
which  I  speak." — "I  accept  the  offer,"  said  Manso,  and  on 
the  following  day  the  friends,  being  seated  near  to  the  fire,  he 
turned  his  eyes  towards  a  window,  on  which  he  fixed  them  so 
attentively  that  he  ceased  replying  to  my  remarks,  and,  in  all 
probability,  no  longer  heard  them. 

"  At  length,  he  said  :  '  There  is  my  familiar  spirit,  who  is  so 
polite  as  to  come  and  converse  with  me  ;  look  at  him,  and  wit- 

*  Esquirol,  Des  Maladies  Mentales,  2  vols.  8vo.  fig.  1838. 
t  Journal  de  Paris,  23d  Aug.  1831. 


CAUSES  OF  HALLUCINATIONS.  317 

ness  the  truth  of  what  I  told  you.'  I  turned  my  eyes  towards 
the  spot  pointed  out,  but  saw  nothing  but  the  rays  of  the  sun 
streaming  into  the  room.  Whilst  I  gazed  all  around,  and  could 
not  discover  anything  unusual,  I  perceived  that  Tasso  was  en- 
gaged in  a  deep  conversation;  for,  although  I  only  saw  and 
heard  him,  his  discourse  was  arranged  as  though  two  persons 
were  conversing  ;  he  alternately  interrogated  and  replied.  The 
subjects  of  his  conversation  were  so  exalted,  the  style  so  sublime 
and  so  extraordinary,  that  surprise  set  me  beside  myself.  I 
neither  dared  speak  to  him,  nor  inquire  where  the  spirit  was 
with  which  he  had  spoken. 

"Astounded  at  that  which  passed  beneath  my  eyes,  I  remained 
for  a  length  of  time  entranced  ;  doubtless,  until  the  departure  of 
the  spirit.  Tasso  aroused  me  by  inquiring  :  '  Have  you  at 
length  dismissed  your  doubts  ?'  'Far  from  it,'  I  replied  ;  'they 
are  but  strengthened;  I  have  heard  wonderful  things;  but  I 
have  not  seen  what  you  led  me  to  expect.'  "* 

Causes  apparently  slight  may  favor  the  development  of  hal- 
lucinations. Those  which  we  will  now  mention,  have  been 
pointed  out  by  difiFerent  authors.  Reading  and  conversation,  at 
night,  on  very  striking  subjects,  prolonged  unreasonably,  have 
frequently  occasioned  in  impressible  persons,  restlessness,  ter- 
rors, and  even  visions.  Conolly  speaks  of  children,  who,  under 
these  circumstances,  have  wakened  up  from  fearful  dreams,  and 
with  whom  false  impressions  of  surrounding  objects  have  con- 
tinued for  some  time.  We  attended  a  very  enlightened  man, 
who,  for  several  years  subsequent  to  a  severe  fever,  was  attacked 
every  night  with  inexpressible  agonies  of  terror,  momentarily 
expecting  to  see  apparitions.  He  recognized  this  state  as  a 
consequence  of  his  illness,  but  as  soon  as  darkness  came  on  all 
his  firmness  vanished. 

SECOND  DIVISION.— PHYSICAL  CAUSES. 

The  enumeration  of  the  moral  causes  which  occasion  halluci- 
nations has  sufficiently  proved  that  exclusive  ideas,  strong  pas- 
sions, and  great  preoccupations,  may  lead  to  this  result.     To 

*  Vie  de  Tasse,  par  Manso.  La  Théorie  des  Songes,  par  L'Abbé  Rich- 
ard, 1766,  p.  234.  Hoole's  Life  of  Tasso,  p.  48.  The  Friend,  by  S.  T. 
Coleridge,  vol.  xi.  p.  236.    Beil's  Fieberlehre,  Halle,  L802. 


318  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

record  other  cases  would  be  a  needless  repetition.  We  will  pro- 
ceed to  examine  the  physical  causes  which  have  most  frequently 
given  rise  to  hallucinations.  They  may  be  classed  in  five  sec- 
tions. To  the  first  belong  hallucinations  derived  from  the  influ- 
ence of  particular  physiques,  such  as  inheritance,  the  sexes, 
climate,  etc.  ;  to  the  second,  those  occasioned  by  mechanical 
causes,  by  alcoholic  drinks,  and  narcotic  substances  ;  to  the  third, 
those  in  connection  with  insanity  ;  to  the  fourth,  those  which 
combine  with  nervous  diseases  (alienation  excepted)  ;  and  lastly, 
to  the  fifth,  hallucinations  produced  by  acute  or  chronic  inflam- 
matory or  other  diseases.  Several  of  these  points  having  been 
already  treated  on  in  this  work,  we  content  ourselves  with  a 
general  description. 

First  Section. — In  this  catalogue,  we  shall  have  to  seek  for 
the  influence  exercised  on  the  production  of  hallucinations  by 
inheritance,  the  sexes,  age,  temperament,  professions,  physiolo- 
gical causes,  seasons,  climate,  and  situation  ;  but  of  these  causes 
there  are  some  which  afford  us  none,  and  others  but  slight  in- 
formation. We  must  not  lose  sight  of  the  fact  that  hallucina- 
tion is  frequently  but  a  complication,  a  symptom  ;  in  which  case 
its  isolated  study  presents  extreme  difficulties.  We  cannot  esta- 
blish, by  statistics,  the  power  of  inheritance  on  hallucinations, 
because  they  almost  always  exist  with  insanity.  Inheritance 
but  slightly  afi'ected  the  epidemic  hallucinations  and  illusions  of 
the  Middle  Ages.  M.  Soudan  has  not  described  the  action  of  this 
cause  on  the  epidemic  ecstasy  which  he  had  observed  in  Sweden. 
In  order  to  understand  this  influence  fully,  it  should  be  studied 
in  individuals  who  have  but  simple  hallucinations,  and  in  those 
monomaniac  hallucinists  who  have  a  very  decided  form  of  insa- 
nity. It  is  undeniable  that  they  often  occur  in  the  sons  of  those 
who  have  experienced  this  double  condition,  but  as,  in  this  case, 
they  are  usually  but  a  symptom  of  a  principal  disease,  this 
knowledge  is  but  of  slight  importance. 

We  have  had  the  opportunity  of  noticing  two  cases  of  heredi- 
tary hallucination,  and  it  may  easily  be  understood  that  this 
nervous  disease  may  like  others  be  transmitted. 

The  father  of  Jerome  Garden  was  subject  to  see  apparitions  ; 
his  son  equally  so.* 

*  De  la  Subtilité,  traduction  de  le  Blanc,  1441,  liv.  xix.  p.  462,  et  seq. 


CAUSES  OF  HALLUCINATIONS.  319 

Catherine  de  Medicis  had  an  hallucination  respecting  Pierre  de 
l'Estoile  ;  and  her  son,  Charles  IX.,  had  one  on  the  very  night 
of  Saint  Bartholomew. 

We  have  not  noticed  anything  special  in  hallucinations,  as 
regards  sexes  ;  out  of  136  individuals  admitted  into  our  esta- 
blishment, 63  were  males,  73  females. 

It  is  not  so,  when  we  examine  the  sexes  relatively  to  the 
nature  of  hallucinations.  On  glancing  through  history,  we 
shall  recognize  at  every  page  the  predominance  of  erotic  ideas 
in  women. 

Incubes,  those  infernal  beings,  sometimes  visible,  sometimes 
invisible,  whose  amorous  assaults  have  been  so  vividly  described 
by  Bodin,  Boquet,  and  Delroi,  are  everywhere  established. 
Among  the  Jews,  they  were  named  Asmodeus,  Haza,  and  Lilith  ; 
with  the  Greeks,  syrens,  nymphs,  orcades,  dryads,  nereids, 
satyrs,  and  sylvans.  Since  the  discovery  of  America,  there 
was  a  much-dreaded  incubus,  the  god  Cocota.  Bodin  relates 
that  in  the  space  of  one  year  at  Rome  82  persons  were  possessed 
by  the  incubes.* 

Coelius  Aurelianus  relates,  after  Silimachus,  the  partisan  of 
the  doctrines  of  Hippocrates,  that  the  incubes  prevailed  in  so  con- 
tagious a  form  at  Rome,  that  many  persons  died  of  it.f  M.  Ma- 
caire  has  shown  that  this  hallucination  was  not  uncommon  in  the 
provinces  and  religious  districts,  and  that  the  neglect  of  modern 
authors  on  this  point  arose  from  the  fact  of  their  own  observa- 
tions being  chiefly  made  in  large  cities. 

Hallucinations  induced  by  erotic  ideas  still  exist,  but  they  are 
connected  with  the  style  of  education,  with  ideas  and  situation. 
Their  greater  rarity  amongst  men  is  owing  to  the  greater  facili- 
ties they  possess  for  gratifying  their  passions. 

Age. — Hallucinations  being  most  frequently  produced  by 
moral  causes,  and  being  often  combined  with  alienation,  they 
appear  in  accordance  with  the  mode  in  which  that  affection  is 
developed;  and  also  exhibit  themselves  at  that  period  of  life 
which  it  affects.  There  are  numerous  exceptions  to  this  rule, 
since  science  points  out  many  examples  of  hallucinations  occur- 
ring in  very  young  children. 

*  Bodin,  Angevin,  1  vol.  large  8vo.  Paris,  1587,  liv.  ii.  chap.  7. 
t  Coelius  Aurelianus,  chron.  morb.  liv.  i.  chap,  iii.,  de  incubone,  Lyon, 
1567. 


320  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

Case  CXXXVII.  About  twelve  years  ago  we  sa-w,  in  the 
City  Asylum,  a  young  lady  of  seven  years  of  age,  whose  mother 
and  grandmother  were  insane,  and  had  hallucinations.  This 
child  had  a  most  intelligent  expression  of  countenance,  with  a 
high  forehead  and  sparkling  eyes.  Her  conversation,  very  supe- 
rior to  that  of  children  of  her  age,  astonished  all  who  heard 
her.  There  was  in  her  observations,  questions,  and  replies,  a 
sort  of  intuition  of  futurity  ;  she  seemed  to  divine  things,  and 
was  a  subject  of  wonder  to  every  one. 

She  was  singularly  restless,  and  always  wishing  to  move  from 
place  to  place.  If  recalled,  she  became  angry,  and  very  de- 
structive. She  was  occasionally  subject  to  attacks,  which  came 
on  in  the  following  manner  :  Her  vivacity  and  restlessness  in- 
creased ;  her  words  were  abrupt  and  jerked  out  ;  she  then  fell 
into  a  sort  of  ecstasy  ;  her  eyes  became  fixed  upwards,  and 
a  happy  smile  animated  her  features  ;  she  then  spoke  with 
an  earnest  tone:  "Do  you  see,"  she  would  say,  "  those  angels 
in  heaven;  they  are  crowned  with  flowers;  they  come  towards 
me;  they  fetch  me."  Frequently  she  would  keep  silence,  as  if 
plunged  in  a  sort  of  abstraction  ;  she  would  then  point  to  heaven 
with  her  finger,  calling  to  the  angels.  In  two  or  three  hours,  the 
vision  would  vanish.  During  the  attack,  this  young  girl  was  as 
white  as  wax,  her  skin  cold,  and  her  pulse  scarcely  sensible  ; 
when  it  passed  ofi",  she  slept.  On  awaking,  her  agitation  re- 
turned and  lasted  for  several  days.  Her  conversation  was  some- 
what incoherent  ;  she  did  not  seem  to  understand  clearly  what 
was  said  to  her,  and  gave  singular  replies.  All  went  on  as 
usual  until  another  attack,  which  shortly  occurred. 

With  infants,  hallucinations  may  be  occasioned  by  fear,  or 
chastisement  ;  they  occur  when  awake  ;  they  also  appear  during 
sleep,  and  continue  for  some  time  after  awaking. 

Case  CXXXVIII.  A  girl  of  nine  or  ten  years  old  had  passed 
her  birthday  with  several  young  companions,  in  all  kinds  of 
childish  amusements.  Her  parents,  who  were  very  ignorant 
people,  persisted  in  telling  her  stories  of  the  devil,  hell,  and 
eternal  damnation.  At  night,  on  going  to  her  room,  the  devil 
appeared  and  threatened  to  devour  her.  She  uttered  a  violent 
shriek,  flew  to  her  parents,  and  fell,  as  if  dead,  at  their  feet. 
Several  hours  elapsed  before  she  could  be  recovered.  This  child 
afterwards  related  what  had  happened,  saying  that  she  was  cer- 


CAUSES  OF  HALLUCINATIONS.  321 

tain  of  being  damned.  The  circumstance  was  the  prelude  to  a 
long  and  serious  nervous  disorder.* 

Case  CXXXIX.  A  young  child,  between  nine  and  ten  years 
of  age — delicate,  lymphatic,  sanguine,  and  very  impressible — 
having  been  severely  reprimanded  for  a  childish  fault,  went  to 
bed  with  a  heavy  heart.  Towards  the  middle  of  the  night,  his 
parents  were  suddenly  awakened  by  sobs.  They  ran  to  his  bed- 
side, and  found  him  weeping  and  struggling,  and  making  efforts 
to  rise.  On  being  questioned,  his  words  were  at  first  confused  ; 
with  staring  eyes  he  replied  that  he  was  much  tormented  ;  that 
there  were  merchants  there,  who  frightened  him  very  much,  and 
he  entreated  that  they  might  be  sent  away.  "  My  dear  child," 
said  his  parents,  "  do  you  not  see  that  your  father  and  mother 
are  beside  you?"  "  Yes  ;  but  the  men  are  there  ;  make  them 
go  away  !"  "  Look  about  ;  you  are  in  your  bed,  in  your  own 
room,  which  is  lighted.''  "  Yes,  I  know  that,  but  still  the  mer- 
chants will  not  go."  "  Well,  you  must  get  up,  and  we  will  have 
tea  together."  "Yes,  I  would  rather  get  up."  His  tears  and 
terror  continued  for  a  short  time,  and  then  all  was  over. 

In  Hibbert's  work  there  is  a  very  interesting  case  of  halluci- 
nation. The  French  author,  from  whom  he  extracted  it,  thus 
relates  it  in  the  Mercure  Galant  of  1690: — 

Case  CXL.  "  When  very  young,  I  was  sent  to  a  town  seven 
leagues  distant  from  my  native  place.  My  father's  object  was 
to  wean  me  from  home,  and  to  have  me  taught  to  write.  Five 
or  six  months  afterwards,  I  was  taken  to  the  house  of  a  rela- 
tive, where  my  father,  who  had  just  returned  from  the  army, 
sent  for  me  to  join  him.  He  examined  my  copy-books,  and  find- 
ing them  very  well  done,  expressed  some  doubts  as  to  their 
authenticity.  As  he  was  about  to  pass  the  afternoon  out  in 
company  with  the  mistress  of  the  house,  he  desired  me  to  write 
ten  or  tAvelve  lines  in  his  absence,  to  relieve  his  suspicions.  Im- 
mediately after  the  departure  of  my  father,  I  went  up  to  the 
room  which  was  prepared  for  me  ;  and  having  all  my  materials, 
I  sat  down  before  an  arm-chair,  on  which  I  placed  my  paper 
and  ink. 

"  Whilst  I  was  engaged  in  writing,  I  thought  I  heard  persons 
on  the  staircase  carrying  corn  into  the  loft  ;  I  quitted  my  seat, 

*  Psychological  Magazine,  vol.  iv.  part  i.  p.  70.     V.  Crichton. 

21 


322  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

and,  raising  one  corner  of  the  tapestry,  I  saw  a  little  open 
room,  and  there  was  my  father  engaged  in  conversation  with  the 
mistress  of  the  house.  Having  seen  them  get  into  the  carriage, 
and  leave  the  chateau,  I  was  very  much  surprised  to  see  them 
there.  Terror  was  added  to  my  astonishment;  I  let  the  tapes- 
try fall,  and,  leaving  the  room,  ran  rapidly  down  stairs. 

"  The  housekeeper,  whom  I  met,  noticing  my  altered  looks, 
inquired  the  cause.  I  related  all  that  had  passed.  She  told  me 
that  I  had  been  dreaming,  for  that  the  Marchioness  and  my 
father  would  not  yet  be  back  for  an  hour.  I  remained  near  the 
room-door,  until  I  saw  them.  The  sight  of  them  contributed  not 
a  little  to  increase  my  distress  ;  however,  I  said  nothing  to  my 
father;  after  supper,  he  desired  to  send  me  to  bed  before  him,  but 
I  had  only  courage  to  leave  the  room,  and  wait  outside  until  I 
could  go  up  stairs  with  him.  He  was  much  astonished  to  find 
me  there,  and  inquired  the  cause.  After  some  frivolous  excuses, 
I  was  obliged  to  confess  that  I  had  seen  spirits  in  the  room.  He 
ridiculed  me,  and  asked  where  I  had  learned  such  tales.  I  re- 
lated my  adventure  ;  no  sooner  had  he  heard  it,  than,  in  order 
to  undeceive  me,  he  took  me  into  the  loft.  I  was  then  con- 
vinced that  it  was  not  intended  for  corn  ;  that  there  neither  was 
any  in  it  nor  had  there  ever  been. 

"My  father  then  took  me  back  to  the  chamber,  and  desired 
me  to  point  out  where  I  had  raised  the  tapestry  and  seen  the 
room;  I  searched  for  it  in  vain;  nor  could  I  find  any  other  door 
to  our  room  than  that  which  opened  on  to  the  staircase.  Such 
very  different  arrangements  to  what  I  had  imagined  alarmed 
me  still  more,  and  I  concluded,  from  what  I  had  heard  of  goblins, 
that  it  was  they  who  had  thus  deceived  me.  My  father  used 
every  endeavor  to  persuade  me  that  all  that  was  said  of  those 
beings  was  purely  fabulous,  and  that  the  fact  was  I  had  gone  to 
sleep  over  my  work.  'You  dreamed,'  said  he,  'all  that  you  thought 
you  saw  and  heard  ;  the  influence  of  surprise  and  fear  on  your 
imagination  produced  the  effect  of  reality.  I  had  much  difiiculty 
in  acknowledging  this  reasoning,  but  was  finally  obliged  to  con- 
fess that  it  was  just.  I  frankly  own  that  the  impression  of  this 
dream  was  so  strong  that,  had  not  the  falsity  of  the  apparition 
been  demonstrated  by  all  the  circumstances  I  have  related,  I 
should  still  believe  it  to  have  been  reality." 

There  is  no  doubt  that  this  was  not  a  dream,  but  an  hallucina- 


CAUSES  OF  HALLUCINATIONS.  323 

tion.  I  could  mention  several  similar  cases,  which  have  been 
produced  by  vivid  preocupation,  by  terror,  by  the  fear  of  reproof, 
and  alarm  caused  by  darkness  and  the  silence  of  night. 

Hallucinations  have  often  been  observed,  in  children,  in  epi- 
demic ecstasies.  Authors,  who  have  written  the  history  of  the 
Shakers  of  the  Cévennes  and  the  preachers  of  Sweden,  agree 
in  saying  that  very  young  children,  of  five,  six,  and  seven  years 
had  visions,  saw  angels,  and  heard  celestial  voices.  Mav  not 
this  morbid  disposition  be  a  consequence  of  the  natural  excita- 
bility of  that  age,  augmented  by  a  Protestant  religious  educa- 
tion, and  favored  by  external  impressions  ? 

Since  the  publication  of  these  remarks  concerning  the  hallu- 
cinations of  childhood.  Dr.  Sharp,  the  younger,  has  published 
observations  upon  the  hallucinations  of  children  only  eighteen 
months  old. 

We  have  not  sufficient  information  to  enable  us  to  judge  how 
much  temperament  has  to  do  with  actual  hallucinations;  but  on 
consulting  the  biography  of  celebrated  men,  who  have  exhibited 
this  remarkable  phenomenon,  we  have  observed  that,  in  the 
majority  of  cases,  the  bilious  temperament  was  the  prevail- 
ing type.  The  ancients  considered  the  melancholic  tempera- 
ment to  be  one  of  the  attributes  of  genius.  Aristotle  enume- 
rates among  melancholic  temperaments,  Hercules,  Bellerophon, 
Ajax,  Empedocles,  Socrates,  and  Plato  himself,*  which,  in  our 
opinion,  implies  that  great  men  of  this  temperament,  by  the 
tension  of  their  minds,  and  the  fixedness  and  tenacity  of  their 
ideas,  are  disposed  to  have  their  thoughts  highly  colored  and  to 
take  them  for  realities;  to  them,  they  are  the  luminous  cloud, 
which  guided  the  Israelites  in  the  desert.  "Everything,"  says 
M.  Lelut,  "  in  the  intellectual  acts  of  the  melancholic,  is  pic- 
tured out  and  takes  a  distinct  form.  Sentiments  and  ideas  are 
transformed  into  real  external  sensations,  as  distinct  as  the  ob- 
jects themselves;  thought  appears  to  be  materialized,  pictured, 
made  a  representative  sign,  a  sound,  an  odor,  a  taste,  a  tangible 
sensation." 

The  'professions  do  not  offer  anything  very  precise.  A  priori, 
those  which  the  most  develop  imagination  appear  the  most  fa- 

*  See  the  translation  of  the  Œuvres  complètes  de  Platon,  by  M,  Cousin. 
This  is  the  finest  monument  that  has  been  raised  to  the  glory  of  this  phi- 
losopher. 


324  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

vorable  to  hallucinations.  In  support  of  this  opinion,  we  could 
name  several  poets  who  are  hallucinists,  and  whose  delirium  is 
evidently  the  result  of  their  works.  The  action  of  civil  society, 
hygienic  habits  and  seasons,  not  having  been  sufficiently  studied, 
we  content  ourselves  with  a  slight  mention  of  them. 

There  is  no  doubt  of  the  influence  of  climate  on  hallucina- 
tions. The  European  character  is  neither  that  of  the  Asiatic 
nor  the  African.  Their  expression  of  countenance,  actions,  and 
temperaments  differ  ;  their  modes  of  seeing  and  thinking  are  no 
less  distinct.  There  is  no  doubt  that  forms  of  government  con- 
tribute to  impress  a  special  stamp  on  nations  ;  but  we  are  no 
less  convinced  that  ideas  vary  according  to  the  peculiar  charac- 
ter of  the  individual.  As  a  proof  of  this  action  of  climate,  we 
need  only  refer  to  the  theological  and  cosmogonical  creations  of 
the  North,  whose  physiognomy  is  so  gigantic,  savage,  and  terri- 
ble; to  the  impressibility  of  the  Laplanders,  Ostyaks,  and  Sa- 
moeides,  and  to  that  world  of  invisible  beings  who  yet  people 
their  solitudes.*  In  comparing  these  conceptions  with  those  of 
the  enchanted  worlds  of  Greece  and  America,  there  is  no  one  but 
will  recognize  a  perfect  harmony  existing  between  the  creations 
and  the  character  of  the  respective  countries.  The  influence  of 
climate  on  the  imagination  did  not  escape  St.  Cyprian,  who  said 
that  the  Christians  who  suffered  martyrdom  in  Africa  were  more 
subject  to  celestial  visions  than  those  who  underwent  it  in  other 
countries  of  the  Roman  Empire.f 

This  question,  on  which  we  do  not,  however,  possess  sufficient 
information,  is  worthy  of  notice  ;  hereafter,  it  may  be  studied 
out  more  completely. 

Hallucinations,  viewed  in  regard  to  situation^  present  very 
remarkable  differences  ;  the  hallucinations  of  cities  are  often 
distinguished  from  those  of  the  country  by  very  sensible  shades. 
Thus,  whilst  the  personality  of  passions,  the  absence  of  belief, 
and  doubt,  will  be  reflected  on  the  first,  on  the  second  a  charac- 
ter of  ignorance  and  superstition  will  be  imprinted.  The  fan- 
tastic traditions  of  the  Middle  Ages  are  far  from  being  effaced 
in  Europe.     The  most  civilized  countries,  France,  England,  and 

*  The  northern  countries  have  long  been  regarded  as  the  dwelling-place 
of  demons  and  magicians.  Broc.  Essai  sur  les  Races  Humaines,  considé- 
rées sous  les  Rapports  Anatomique  et  Philosophique,  1836,  1  vol.  8vo. 

t  In  Actis  Martyrum,  p.  87. 


CAUSES  OF  HALLUCINATIONS.  325 

Germany,  could  produce  volumes.  On  this  subject  travellers 
may  be  consulted,  "who  have  amused  themselves  with  collecting 
popular  traditions  ;  one  of  them  relates  the  following  as  a  belief 
of  Franche  Comté:  "  On  the  platform  of  Haute-Pierre,  another 
Melusina  is  sometimes  seen  to  pass,  a  being  half  woman  and 
half  serpent  ;  it  is  the  Vouivre.  She  has  no  eyes,  but  a  large 
carbuncle  in  her  forehead  guides  her  like  a  brilliant  orb,  day 
and  night.  On  bathing  in  the  rivers,  she  is  obliged  to  lay  the 
carbuncle  on  the  ground,  and  if  she  could  then  be  secured,  the 
whole  race  of  genii  could  be  commanded,  and  all  the  treasures 
brought  forth  from  the  mountains;  but  it  is  an  adventure  too 
dangerous  to  be  attempted  ;  for  at  the  least  noise,  the  Vouivre 
darts  from  the  river,  and  woe  to  him  whom  she  encounters."* 

The  English  sailor,  a  stranger  to  all  other  fear,  owns  the 
dread  with  which  Old  Nick  (the  devil)  inspires  him  ;  he  looks  on 
him  as  the  author  of  almost  all  the  various  calamities  to  which 
his  precarious  life  so  constantly  exposes  him. 

The  Bar  Guest,  or  Bhar  Ghiest,  a  name  under  which  this 
spirit  is  generally  known  in  several  districts  of  England,  parti- 
cularly in  Yorkshire,  is  also  called  Dobie  ;  it  is  a  local  spectre 
haunting  a  particular  spot,  under  different  shapes,  and  is,  as  its 
name  indicates,  a  divinity  of  Teutonic  origin. f 

Solitude  is  an  influence  that  attaches  itself  to  places.  In  fact, 
it  seldom  fails  to  produce  a  sort  of  hallucination  or  ecstasy, 
especially  in  very  imaginative  persons.  The  recitals  made  in 
the  Eastern  deserts,  and  the  faith  of  the  individuals  who  traverse 
them,  reveal  the  supremacy  of  this  cause  ;  but  it  is  evident  from 
observation  that  they  vary  according  to  situation,  and  that  the 
hallucinations  of  the  steppes  of  the  North,  are  not  those  of  the 
burning  plains  of  the  South. 

In  pointing  out  hallucinations  caused  by  physical  excitement, 
we  would  remind  our  readers  of  those  which  can  be  produced  at 

*  Xavier  Marmier,  Souvenirs  de  Voyages  et  Traditions  Populaires,  p.  73. 

t  On  this  interesting  subject  nlay  be  consulted  Les  récits  de  la  muse 
populaire,  par  M.  Emile  Souvestre,  Revue  des  Deux  Mondes,  t.  iii.  850,  p. 
243,  etc.  Les  visions  de  la  nuit  dans  les  campagnes,  par  Georges  Sand, 
who  has  highly  commended  our  work.  Illustration,  13th  December,  1851. 
Erreurs  et  préjugés  des  Paysans,  par  M.  J.  Laprade.  Illustration,  No.  453, 
454,  455,  and  460,  1851. 


326  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

"will,  by  attracting  the  sun  on  to  a  plate  of  glass,  and  instantly 
directing  the  eyes  to  the  darkest  corner  of  the  room. 

Amongst  other  facts  relative  to  this  experiment,  Darwin  relates 
the  following  :  "  I  covered  a  piece  of  paper  of  four  inches  square 
with  yellow,  and  wrote  in  the  middle,  in  capital  letters,  in  blue, 
the  word  BANKS.  Sitting  down,  with  my  back  towards  the 
sun,  I  gazed  intently  for  a  minute  on  the  middle  letter,  N. 
Having  closed  my  eyes,  and  covered  them  with  my  hand,  I 
distinctly  perceived  the  word  in  yellow  letters  on  a  blue  ground  ; 
and  then  opening  my  eyes,  and  looking  on  a  wall  about  twenty 
paces  distant,  I  read  the  word  Banks,  considerably  enlarged, 
written  on  the  wall  in  letters  of  gold. 

"A  friend  of  mine  had  been  very  attentively  examining,  with 
his  head  lowered,  a  small  engraving  of  the  Virgin  and  Child. 
On  raising  his  head,  he  was  surprised  to  see,  at  the  end  of  the 
room,  a  female  figure,  of  the  size  of  life,  with  a  child  in  her  arms. 
The  first  surprise  over,  he  understood  the  source  of  the  illusion, 
and  remarked  that  the  figure  corresponded  exactly  with  that  in 
the  engraving.     The  illusion  lasted  for  two  minutes."* 

The  state  of  the  atmosphere  may  give  rise  to  singular  visions; 
all  who  have  crossed  the  deserts  and  the  sea,  know  the  pheno- 
menon of  the  mirage.  General  Daumas  has  related  some  curious 
examples  in  his  translation  of  the  Voyage  of  the  Arab  Sid-el-ag- 
Mohammed.  The  military,  during  their  campaigns  in  Africa 
and  Egypt,  mostly  saw  fountains,  rivers,  trees,  towns,  armies, 
and  fantastic  creations,  which  on  their  approach  changed  into 
burning  and  arid  sands. 

The  same  phenomenon  may  be  observed  on  ascending  into  the 
air. 

La  Gf-azette  de  Mons  has  published,  in  relation  to  a  balloon 
ascension  by  Mr.  Green,  some  extracts  from  a  report  that  Dr. 
B.  addressed  to  the  Society  of  Natural  Sciences  in  London  : — 
"A  curious  eifect  of  light,"  says  that  physician,  "was  then 
presented  to  us  ;  the  air  was  suddenly  illuminated  with  such  a 
dazzling  light,  and  our  eyes  acquired  such  a  singular  aberration 
of  vision,  that  all  objects  lately  microscopic  acquired  colossal 
proportions,  and  forms  so  capricious,  that  we  should  have  consi- 
dered ourselves  under  the  influence  of  a  dream  if  the  pheno- 

*  Abercrombie,  op.  cit.  p.  05. 


CAUSES  OF  HALLUCINATIONS.  827 

menon  had  not  been  described  by  the  faculty,  under  the  term 
diachromatopsia. 

"In  like  manner  the  race  of  miners,  usually  so  swarthy  on  ac- 
count of  the  dust  of  the  coal  they  constantly  absorb,  appeared  to 
us  of  a  dazzling  whiteness  ;  women  dressed  in  black  were  white 
as  vestal  virgins.  In  the  midst  of  these  transformations  of  color, 
there  glided  monstrous  forms  of  goats,  mastodons,  and  rhinoce- 
roses, looking  with  eyes  of  wonder  on  all  these  pretty  women  ;  and 
there  were  even  turkeys,  who  flew  proudly  amongst  them.  My 
friend  M.  believed  himself  under  the  influence  of  hallucination  ; 
but  Mr.  Green  told  us  he  had  already  witnessed  a  similar  spec- 
tacle, which  appeared  to  him  so  extraordinary  that  he  had  not 
dared  to  speak  of  it,  for  fear  of  being  taken  for  an  illuminist. 
I  explained  to  him  that  the  phenomenon,  howsoever  wonderful, 
had  already  been  described  by  men  of  acknowledged  veracity. 

"  In  ten  or  twelve  minutes,  the  light  diminished,  the  picture 
darkened,  and  was  finally  extinguished."* 

Second  Section. — This  second  division  of  i^liyûcal  causes, 
which  may  give  rise  to  hallucinations,  comprises  mechanical 
causes,  alcoholic  drinks,  certain  gases,  some  kinds  of  plants,  and 
narcotic  and  venomous  substances.  Amongst  mechanical  causes 
which  favor  the  presence  of  hallucinations,  must  be  noticed  pres- 
sure exercised  on  the  organs  of  sense,  their  irritation  from 
foreign  bodies,  concussion  of  the  brain,  hanging,  abstinence,  and 
starvation. 

A  miner  was  buried  for  twelve  days  in  a  gallery,  with  no 
nutriment  but  water,  which  fell,  drop  by  drop,  into  his  hand. 
During  all  this  time,  he  was  not  depressed  ;  for,  whenever  he 
thought  of  the  distress  of  his  wife  and  children,  he  heard  celes- 
tial voices,  which  calmed  his  anguish. f 

M.  Savigny  was  wrecked  in  the  Medusae  frigate.  When  on 
the  raft,  a  prey  to  all  the  horrors  of  famine,  he  appeared  to  see 
earth  around  him,  covered  with  fine  plantations,  and  was  in  com- 
pany with  beings  most  agreeable  to  his  senses.  He  reasoned  on 
his  condition,  and  felt  that  the  exercise  of  strong  resolution  alone 
could  extricate  him  from  this  species  of  deception.  Some  of  his 
companions  in  misfortune  believed  themselves  on  board  the  Me- 

*  Debates  of  the  4tli  of  Novemlier,  1850. 

t  Medical  and  Physical  Journal,  by  William  Hutchinson,  February, 
1820,  vol.  xliii.  No.  252. 


328  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

dusse,  surrounded  by  all  accustomed  objects;  others  saw  ships,  and 
invoked  the  aid  of  those  on  board,  or  a  raft,  on  which  stood  a 
superb  city.  M.  Correard  believedhimself  to  be  travelling  over 
the  beautiful  country  of  Italy.*  M.  Savigny  remarks,  that  it 
was  during  the  night  that  he  and  his  companions  were  attacked 
with  dementia.  On  the  return  of  day,  they  were  much  calmer, 
but  darkness  brought  confusion  again  into  their  weakened  senses. 
"  I  noticed  in  my  own  case,"  he  adds,  "  that  my  imagination  was 
much  more  excited  in  the  silence  of  the  night  ;  then,  everything 
appeared  unnatural  and  fantastic. "f 

Abstinence  must  have  been  a  powerful  aid  to  the  hallucina- 
tions of  the  monks  and  hermits  of  the  Thebaide. 

The  influence  of  alcoholic  liquors  has  been  sufficiently  demon- 
strated in  what  we  have  said  on  Delirium  Tremens  ;  we  will  not 
return  to  this  subject  beyond  making  a  simple  remark.  It  is 
not  unusual  for  persons  who  have  been  addicted  to  drinking, 
and  leave  it  off  suddenly,  to  become  subject  to  hallucinations  ; 
whereas,  if  they  discontinued  the  practice  by  degrees,  they 
would  not  experience  any  suffering. 

The  action  of  deutoxide  of  azote  on  the  system  merits  parti- 
cular attention.  Sensations  and  ideas  are  simultaneously  aug- 
mented to  a  very  high  degree  ;  the  mind  gradually  loses  all  or 
the  greater  portion  of  its  actual  impressions,  more  especially 
those  which  are  painful  or  disagreeable  ;  these  are  replaced  by 
gay  and  pleasing  images.  Sir  Humphrey  Davy  relates  that,  in 
an  experiment  of  this  kind,  he  no  longer  felt  any  connection 
with  external  objects  ;  a  series  of  visible  and  animated  images 
passed  rapidly  through  his  mind,  united  with  words,  in  such  a 
manner  as  to  produce  entirely  novel  perceptions.  "  I  existed," 
said  he,  "  in  an  unknown  world  of  affinities  and  ideas.  On  com- 
ing to  myself,  I  exclaimed,  '  Nothing  exists  but  thoughts  ;  the 
universe  is  composed  of  impressions,  ideas,  pleasures,  and 
pains.'  "  The  visionary  world  into  which  the  English  savant 
was  introduced  was  only  the  personification  and  vivification  of 
his  ideas. I 

*  Account  of  the  wreck  of  the  Medusœ,  4th  edition,  1821,  pp.  121, 122. 

f  Essay  read  in  1818,  to  the  Faculty  of  Paris,  by  M.  Savigny,  Surgeon 
on  board  the  Medusae  frigate. 

X  To  these  substances  must  be  added  preparations  of  lead,  carbonic  acid 
gas,  the  white  oxide  of  arsenic,  belladonna,  hyoscyamus,  etc. 


CAUSES  OF  HALLUCINATIONS.  329 

Of  all  substances  which  act  on  the  organization,  in  causing 
illusions  and  hallucinations,  none  are  more  remarkable  than 
opium  and  haschisch.  In  a  work,  entitled  The  English  Opium- 
JEater,  we  find  a  well-written  account  of  the  sensations  experi- 
enced by  the  author  after  a  prolonged  use  of  this  drug. 

Case  CXLI.  "  The  first  thing  which  caused  me  to  remark  a 
notable  change  in  myself,  was  the  return  of  those  visions  to 
which  childhood  alone,  or  a  high  state  of  irritability,  is  subject. 
At  night,  when  awake  in  my  bed,  long  processions  in  mournful 
pomp  passed  before  me.  I  listened  to  interminable  stories,  sad- 
der and  more  solemn  than  those  told  to  Priam  or  Œdipus.  At 
the  same  time  I  observed  a  change  in  my  dreams  ;  a  theatre 
seemed  suddenly  to  have  opened  in  my  brain,  and  presented 
me  Avith  spectacles  of  more  than  human  splendor.  The  four 
following  facts  may  be  mentioned  as  remarkable.  At  the  moment 
when  the  creations  of  the  faculty  of  sight  seemed  to  augment, 
a  kind  of  sympathy  was  established  between  my  real  state  and 
my  dream  state.  Every  object  which  I  happened  to  call  up  and 
voluntarily  retrace  in  darkness,  was  immediately  transformed  into 
an  apparition.  I  dreaded  to  exercise  this  formidable  power  ;  for 
as  soon  as  anything  presented  itself  to  my  eyes,  I  had  only  to 
think  of  it  in  the  dark,  when  it  rose  up  like  a  phantom,  and,  by 
a  consequence  apparently  inevitable,  oeing  once  thus  traced  in 
imaginary  colors,  it  acquired,  like  a  word  written  in  sympathetic 
ink,  an  insupportable  efi'ulgence,  which  overwhelmed  me. 

"This,  like  all  the  other  changes,  was  accompanied  by  inquie- 
tude and  deep  melancholy,  impossible  to  describe.  Every  night 
I  appeared  to  descend,  not  metaphorically,  but  literally  into 
fathomless  abysses,  from  whence  I  had  no  hope  of  emerging. 
Even  on  awaking,  I  did  not  believe  that  I  had  risen. 

"The  feeling  of  space,  and  subsequently  that  of  time,  were 
both  excessively  augmented.  Buildings  and  mountains  towered 
in  proportions  too  vast  for  sight  to  measure.  The  plain  spread, 
and  was  lost  in  immensity.  This,  however,  alarmed  me  less 
than  the  prolongation  of  time  ;  I  sometimes  thought  that  I  had 
lived  eighty  or  one  hundred  years  in  a  single  night  ;  I  even  had 
one  dream  of  thousands  of  years,  and  others  which  passed  the 
bounds  of  all  that  man  could  calculate. 

"The  most  minute  circumstances  of  childhood,  and  forgotten 
scenes  of  my  earliest  years,  were  often  revived  in  my  dreams; 


330  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

I  could  not  recall  them,  for  had  they  been  repeated  to  me  the 
next  day,  I  should  vainly  have  endeavored  to  recollect  them,  as 
forming  part  of  my  experience.  But  placed  before  me  aS  they 
were  in  dreams  and  apparitions,  and  clad  in  all  their  surround- 
ing circumstances,  I  recognized  them  instantly.  One  of  my  rela- 
tives told  me  that  having,  when  a  child,  fallen  into  a  river,  he  saw, 
when  on  the  point  of  drowning,  and  the  moment  before  he  was 
unexpectedly  rescued,  the  whole  of  his  life,  even  his  most  trivial 
faults,  presented  to  him  as  in  a  mirror,  and  that  he  felt  the 
singular  power  of  grasping  the  whole  as  well  as  a  single  circum- 
stance- I  give  full  credit  to  this  assertion  after  my  own  expe- 
riences of  opium.  ...  I  find  the  same  idea  carried  out  in  modern 
books,  accompanied  by  a  remark  which  I  believe  to  be  equally 
true,  namely,  that  the  dread  book,  spoken  of  in  Holy  Writ,  is 
the  conscience  of  each  individual.* 

"Together  with  the  power  of  enlarging  and  multiplying, 
architecture  was  introduced  into  my  dreams.  During  the  latter 
part  of  my  disease  particularly,  I  saw  cities  and  palaces  such  as 
no  eye  ever  witnessed,  but  in  the  clouds.  Lakes  and  immense 
sheets  of  water  succeeded  to  my  architectural  dreams.  For  two 
months,  I  suifered  horrible  pains  in  my  head.  The  waters 
changed  their  character  ;  they  were  now  seas  and  oceans.  Again, 
a  worse  change  took  plaice,  which  threatened  distressing  conse- 
quences, and  which,  in  fact,  did  not  leave  me,  until  my  disease 
was  cured.  Hitherto,  the  human  countenance  had  mingled  in 
my  dreams,  but  without  exciting  any  alarm  ;  but  now,  what  I 
shall  call  the  tyranny  of  the  human  countenance  began  to  be 
developed.  It  was  on  the  restless  waves  of  the  ocean  that  it 
first  appeared;  the  sea  was  as  it  were  paved  with  innumerable 
faces,  all  turned  upward,  weeping,  distracted,  enraged,  rising  by 
thousands,  by  myriads,  by  generations,  by  ages.  My  imagina- 
tion was  boundless,  my  soul  flowed  on  with  the  waves. 

"  Having,  in  my  youth,  seen  a  dead  body  laid  on  a  table  for 
dissection,  this  old  impression  gave  rise  to  a  dream  which  re- 
curred very  frequently.  It  appeared  to  me  that  I  was  in  bed, 
and  had  awakened.  In  leaning  on  my  hand,  in  order  to  adjust 
mj  pillow,  something  soft  seemed  to  give  way  beneath  it.     It 

*  This  idea  is  expressed  in  all  languages,  as  is  proved  by  the  Arabian 
proverb,  cited  by  General  Daumas, 


CAUSES  OF  HALLUCINATIONS.  331 

was  a  corpse  stretched  by  my  side.  I  was,  however,  neither 
alarmed  nor  astonished.  I  took  it  in  my  arms,  and  carried  it 
into  an  adjoining  room,  saying  to  myself:  '  I  will  lay  it  there  on 
the  floor  ;  it  is  impossible  that  it  can  come  in  again,  if  I  take  the 
key  out  of  the  door,' 

"Upon  that,  I  slept  again,  and  was  again  aroused.  It  was 
by  the  noise  of  an  opening  door  ;  and  this  idea  filled  me  with 
a  horrible  sensation.  Then  I  saw  the  same  dead  body  come  in 
which  I  had  carried  away.  Its  action  was  singular  ;  it  was  that 
of  a  man  whose  bones  had  been  taken  out,  and  who,  in  his  en- 
deavors to  support  himself  by  his  pliant  and  flexible  muscles, 
was  ready  to  fall  at  each  step.  However,  it  succeeded  in  reach- 
ing me,  and  stretched  itself  upon  me.  It  then  became  a  horri- 
ble nightmare,  inexpressibly  disgusting;  for,  besides  the  weight 
of  the  formless  mass,  a  pestilential  odor  arose  from  the  kisses 
with  which  it  covered  me.  At  other  times  it  would  lean  over 
my  shoulder,  and  read  the  book  which  I  held  in  my  hand.  I 
felt  its  disgusting  beard  scrape  my  throat  and  my  cheek. 

"  The  terror  inspired  by  such  a  vision  may  be  imagined;  I  would 
remain  immovable  in  my  seat,  not  daring  to  turn  the  page,  with 
my  eyes  fixed  on  the  terrible  apparition  which  I  saw  in  the  glass 
opposite.  A  cold  sweat  poured  from  my  whole  body  ;  then  the 
door  would  open,  and  I  saw  (still  in  the  mirror)  a  long  frightful 
procession  of  horrible  skeletons  enter,  each  carrying  its  head  in 
one  hand,  and  in  the  other  a  long  taper,  which  shed  a  red  and 
quivering  flame,  and  spread  a  dull  and  bluish  light  like  the  rays 
of  the  moon.  They  moved  around  the  chamber,  which,  from 
being  warm  before,  now  became  chill  ;  some  came  and  seated 
themselves  on  the  dim  and  black  hearth,  and  holding  out  their 
long  and  livid  hands  to  warm,  turned  towards  me,  saying  :  'It 
is  cold.'  " 

We  have  already  noticed  an  apparition  of  this  nature,  which 
happened  to  a  celebrated  professor.  (The  dose  taken  by  the 
opium-eater  varied  from  50  to  60  grains  a  day,  and  sometimes 
reached  150.)* 

*  The  English  Opium-Eater,  1  vol.  12mo.  This  description,  which  we 
read  with  the  liveliest  interest,  and  which  is  very  minute,  presents  several 
points  of  resemblance  with  hallucination  and  nightmare,  of  which  it  exhi- 
bits mçiny  of  the  phenomena.  Many  of  the  symptoms  also  occur  in  the 
use  of  the  haschisch.    See  an  Essay  on  the  Use  of  Opium,  Paris,  1834,  by 


332  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

I  have  somewhat  dilated  on  this  subject,  because  the  class  of 
opium-eaters  is  considerable  in  England,  and  none  can  tell  the 
number  of  theriakis  in  the  East.  Dr.  Pocqueville,  in  his  Travels 
in  the  3Iorea,  draAvs  a  frightful  picture  of  the  eifects  of  opium  on 
individuals  who  yield  to  the  daily  use  of  this  preparation.  Such 
is  their  passion  for  it,  that  not  all  the  certainty  of  death,  and 
the  infirmities  which  precede  it,  can  check  their  indulgence  in 
this  fatal  poison. 

Case  CXLII.  This  physician  relates  the  following  :  An  En- 
glish ambassador,  recently  sent  to  India,  was  conducted,  on  his 
arrival  at  the  palace  of  the  sovereign,  through  a  suite  of  deco- 
rated apartments,  filled  with  richly  dressed  ofiicials,  into  a  small 
room,  the  ornaments  and  furniture  of  which  infinitely  surpassed 
in  splendor  those  which  he  had  already  seen. 

He  was  left  alone.  Shortly  afterwards,  two  men  of  distin- 
guished appearance  entered  ;  they  preceded  a  litter  borne  by 
slaves,  and  covered  wàth  silks  and  cashmeres  of  immense  value. 
On  this  couch  a  human  form  was  extended,  which  might  have 
been  taken  for  a  corpse,  had  not  the  head  moved  at  each  step 
of  the  bearers  ;  two  officers  held  a  little  tray  of  gold  filagree, 
on  which  was  a  cup  and  phial  filled  with  a  bluish  liquid. 

The  ambassador,  believing  himself  to  be  the  involuntary  wit- 
ness of  some  dismal  ceremony,  moved  to  retire  ;  but  he  was 
quickly  undeceived  by  seeing  the  officers  raise  the  apparently 
inanimate  head,  and  thrust  the  tongue  back  into  the  mouth,  from 
which  it  protruded,  having  placed  thereon  a  certain  quantity  of 
black  liquid  ;  then  closing  the  jaws,  gently  rubbed  the  throat  to 
make  it  descend.  "When  this  operation  had  been  repeated  five 
or  six  times,  the  figure  opened  and  closed  its  eyes  voluntarily  ; 
it  then  swallowed  a  large  dose  of  liquid,  and  in  less  than  an  hour 
an  animated  being  was  seated  on  the  couch,  having  recovered 
color,  and,  in  some  measure,  speech.  He  then  addressed  him- 
self in  Persian  to  the  envoyé,  and  inquired  the  motives  of  his 
visit.  In  two  hours  more,  this  extraordinary  person  was  entirely 
active,  Avith  his  mind  capable  of  undertaking  the  most  difficult 
aifairs.  The  English  ambassador  took  the  liberty  of  making 
some  inquiries  on  the  scene  which  he  had  witnessed.     "Sir," 

Dr.  Botta,  formerly  our  schoolmate,  now  consul  in  .Jerusalem,  to  whom  the 
discovery  of  Nineveh  is  due.     See  also  a  Treatise  by  Mr.  Lee. 


CAUSES  OF  HALLUCINATIONS.  333 

he  replied,  "lama  confirmed  opium-eater;  it  is  by  degrees 
that  I  have  fallen  into  this  deplorable  excess.  Three  parts  of 
the  day  I  pass  in  the  state  of  stupor  in  -which  you  saw  me.  In- 
capable of  moving  or  speaking,  I  am,  nevertheless,  conscious, 
and  the  time  passes  in  delightful  visions  ;  but  I  should  never 
awake,  had  I  not  zealous  and  affectionate  attendants,  who  watch 
over  me  with  a  religious  care.  So  soon  as  they  find,  by  the  state 
of  my  pulse,  that  the  pulsation  of  my  heart  is  about  to  cease, 
they  make  me  swallow  opium,  and  revive  me  in  the  manner  you 
witnessed.  For  the  last  four  hours  I  have  swallowed  several 
ounces  ;  and  in  a  little  time  I  shall  fall  into  my  habitual  torpor."* 

The  effects  of  opium  on  the  brain  have  been  noticed  in  par- 
ticular cases,  sometimes  even  on  the  first  dose. 

Case  CXLIII.  "I  attended,"  says  Abercrombie,  "a  sick 
person  affected  with  a  severe  local  disease,  which  required  the 
use  of  powerful  opiates.  The  remedy  did  not  ahvays  succeed 
in  procuring  repose  to  the  patient.  During  one  restless  night, 
he  was  astonished  to  see  a  long  procession  of  personages  pass  in 
review  before  him,  whose  appearance  and  costume  were  in  accord- 
ance with  an  event  which  had,  a  short  time  before,  been  the 
theme  of  conversation  throughout  Edinburgh.  The  figures  suc- 
ceeded each  other  with  all  the  animation  and  regularity  of  a 
scene  in  a  theatre  ;  he  heard  their  conversations,  and  the  long 
discourses  which  they  held  relative  to  the  circumstances,  some 
of  which  were  in  rhyme.  On  the  following  day,  he  repeated 
considerable  passages  of  these  poetical  compositions.  He  was 
completely  awake,  and  knew  that  wdiat  he  saw  was  an  illusion. 
He  remarked  that  the  vision  all  vanished  when  he  opened  his 
eyes,  but  returned  as  soon  as  he  closed  them."f 

Some  years  since,  attention  was  drawn  to  a  substance,  of 
■which  great  use  is  made  in  the  East,  called  Haschisch.  This 
composition,  which  is  a  distillation  of  the  pistils  of  the  hemp^ 
and  on  which  M.  Aubert  Roche  published  an  interesting  paper, 
appears,  according  to  the  researches  of  Messrs.  Lengles,  Mi- 
chaud,  and  De  Sacy,  to  have  played  a  very  important  part  in 
the  Middle  Ages.     In  fact,  it  is  almost  certain  that  the  Old  Man 

*  Pocqueville,  Voyage  en  Morea.     Bibliothèque  Universelle  de  Genève, 
1841.     Neuf  Années  à  Constantinople,  par  Brayer,  1836,  2  vols.  8vo. 
t  Abercrombie,  op.  cit.  p.  389. 


334  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

of  the  Mountain  made  use  of  this  preparation  to  plunge  his  séides 
into  a  sea  of  delight.* 

Observations,  made  of  cases  both  in  Egypt  and  in  France, 
support  this  opinion.  In  1840  I  attended,  in  conjunction  with 
several  other  physicians,  a  case,  the  results  of  "which  were  re- 
ferred to  the  Gfazette  Blêclicale.  We  had  no  doubt  that  haschisch 
formed  the  chief  element  of  the  liquid  given  to  the  experiment- 
ers, even  if  it  was  not  haschisch  alone,  without  any  admixture. 
I  will  subjoin  my  notice  of  the  meeting. 

About  two  years  since,  I  published,  in  a  number  of  the  Jour- 
nal des  Débats,  some  details  on  the  composition  of  haschisch,  a 
drug  of  general  use  in  the  East,  and  which  had  produced  such 
remarkable  effects  on  three  young  merchants  of  Marseilles. 
The  case,  which  excited  much  curiosity  at  the  time,  was,  like 
many  others,  forgotten,  when  I  received  from  M.  A.  de  G.,  who 
is  well  known  as  the  translator  of  Pliny,  in  the  fine  edition  of 
Latin  Classics,  by  M.  Panckoucke,  an  invitation  to  be  present 
at  some  experiments  produced  by  the  taking  of  a  substance, 
which  occasioned,  it  was  said,  similar  phenomena  to  those  which 
had  been  noticed  in  the  adepts  of  the  Old  Man  of  the  Mountain. 

On  my  arrival,  the  meeting  consisted  of  about  thirty  persons, 
amongst  whom  I  will  name  Messrs.  Esquirol,  Ferrus,  Cottereau, 
Bussy,  Professor  of  the  School  of  Pharmacy,  General  Rémond, 
and  M.  Destourbet.  The  remainder  of  the  party  were  literary 
men,  savants,  and  artists  ;  consequently,  we  had  assembled  every 
element  for  close  observation,  and  there  was  every  certainty 
that  the  experiment  would  be  strictly  carried  out. 

Case  CXLIV.  At  eleven  o'clock  three  persons  had  taken  the 
liquid,  namely,  Messrs.  A.  K.,  a  celebrated  novelist,  of  a  very 
powerful  organization,  D.,  an  advocate,  one  of  the  best  scholars 
of  the  University,  and  B.,  a  painter  and  musician.  On  the  ex- 
piration of  two  hours,  no  sensible  effect  being  produced,  another 
dose  was  administered.  The  following  are  the  phenomena  which 
occurred  in  two  of  the  gentlemen  in  the  course  of  another  half- 
hour.     Mr.  A.  K.  resisted  the  action  of  the  substance,  and,  as 

*  The  article  Haschisch,  in  the  Supplement  of  the  Dictionnaire  des  Dic- 
tionnaires de  Médecine,  1851,  p.  325,  edited  by  Dr.  Foy,  our  colleague  in 
the  mission  for  the  study  of  Cholera  in  Poland,  1831.  Mémoire  sur  le 
Haschisch,  par  M.  Gastinel,  pharmacien  au  Caire,  et  publiée  dans  le  Réper- 
toire de  Pharmacie,  1849,  t.  vi.  p.  129. 


CAUSES  OF  HALLUCINATIONS.  335 

he  said,  only  experienced  a  slight  oppression  of  the  head  and 
epigastrium;  perhaps,  also,  the  second  repast  "which  he  took,  all 
these  gentlemen  having  already  breakfasted,  may  have  entirely 
neutralized  the  substance.  An  examination  of  the  state  of  the 
pulse  was  neglected  at  the  beginning  of  the  experiment;  its  ac- 
celeration subsequently,  and  the  state  of  the  pupil,  sufficiently 
demonstrated  the  effect  of  the  substance. 

Mr.  B.,  on  whom  the  medicine  first  took  effect,  experienced  a 
dryness  of  the  throat  and  twitching  of  the  limbs  ;  the  pulse  was 
96  in  the  minute,  the  face  flushed.  Mr.  B.  soon  closed  his  eyes 
in  order  to  collect  himself  ;  his  ideas  appeared  to  develop 
with  extreme  rapidity.  At  one  moment  he  offered  the  singular 
phenomenon  of  a  double  man^  already  described  in  other  expe- 
riments ;  he  said  he  heard  music  on  one  side,  and  conversation 
on  the  other;  but  this  symptom  did  not  continue.  The  music, 
which  was  performed  by  M.  C,  principal  performer  of  the  Con- 
servatoire, did  not  appear  to  act  in  any  particular  manner  on  the 
subject  of  experiment.  At  this  time  the  pupils  were  much  dilated. 
Interrogated  as  to  his  sensations,  M.  B.  said  that  they  were  very 
voluptuous.  He  felt  particularly  gay  and  happy;  he  wished  to 
be  alone  in  a  quiet  place;  he  had  great  repugnance  to  speak  or 
to  move  ;  all  countenances  appear  to  him  ridiculous. 

Until  now  M.  B.  had  conversed  ;  he  moved  about,  and  some- 
times laughed  violently,  but  all  his  actions  resembled  those  of  a 
person  excited  by  alcoholic  liquor.  Suddenly,  he  flung  himself  on 
a  couch,  refused  to  answer  any  more  questions,  and  begged  to  be 
left  alone,  and  not  be  disturbed  in  the  delicious  sensations  he 
experienced  ;  he  had  spasmodic  movements  in  his  members,  and 
in  the  diaphragm  ;  he  sighed,  moaned,  laughed,  and  wept  by 
turns  ;  the  pulse  120  a  minute,  the  face  much  flushed.  The 
persons  present  began  to  feel  uneasy  ;  but  were  reassured,  on 
hearing  Mr.  B.  repeat  several  times  that  he  was  happy  and  did 
not  suffer.  Dr.  Cottereau  watched  the  symptoms  with  the 
greatest  minuteness.  Mr.  B.  appeared  the  whole  time  to  have 
the  most  agreeable  sensations  proceeding  from  the  epigastrium. 
All  the  phenomena  presented  were  those  of  ecstasy  ;  his  fea- 
tures bespoke  the  greatest  happiness  ;  he  could  not  find  language 
to  express  his  feelings  ;  he  would  not  wish  to  leave  his  present 
condition  ;  he  is  so  happy  !  "  How  much  I  thank  those  who 
gave  me  that  delicious  drink  !" — "  Tell  me  what  you  feel,"  said 


336  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

one  of  tlie  party. — "I  cannot  express  it."  The  influence  of  Mr. 
B.'s  temperament  was  remarked  throughout  this  experiment;  he 
is  possessed  of  great  sensibility.  In  speaking  of  gay  subjects, 
and  pointing  out  lively  and  agreeable  objects,  his  ideas  harmo- 
nized instantly  ;  he  shouted  with  laughter,  and  evinced  the  great- 
est gayety.  It  was  evident,  in  this  case,  that  he  was  under  the 
influence  of  the  person  who  spoke  to  him,  who  could  direct  his 
ideas  as  he  chose.  Mr.  B.'s  sense  of  hearing  had  become  ex- 
tremely acute  ;  he  very  distinctly  heard  what  was  said  far  ofi" 
and  in  a  low  voice.  In  the  midst  of  his  ecstasy,  he  neither  lost 
consciousness  of  persons  nor  things.  He  replied  correctly  to 
all  questions  addressed  to  him,  and  knew  those  who  surrounded 
him  ;  but  it  was  evidently  painful  to  him  to  speak  ;  he  seemed  to  wish 
to  enjoy  his  ecstasy  undisturbed.  At  half  after  four,  the  pulse 
is  90;  his  ecstatic  reveries  continue;  he  is  conscious  of  anything 
relating  to  earth  ;  his  mind  is  perfectly  free,  and  yet  he  has  deli- 
cious sensations.  Mr.  A.  de  G.  proposes  to  give  him  an  antidote, 
and  bring  him  back  to  his  natural  state  ;  he  says  that  the  sensa- 
tion of  happiness  will  last  for  a  day  or  two.  All  whom  I  have 
interrogated,  who  have  tried  the  experiment,  have  assured  me 
that  they  have  not  felt  any  distress  on  the  following  days,  but, 
on  the  contrary,  a  great  sensation  of  happiness. 

M.  D.,  the  second  subject,  came  to  the  meeting  with  the  con- 
viction that  the  substance  would  not  produce  any  effect  upon 
him,  and  with  the  firm  intention  to  resist  its  action.  No  symp- 
tom occurred  for  two  hours  and  a  half.  The  physiognomy  of 
M.  D.  is  grave.  His  character  is  serious  ;  he  rarely  laughs,  and 
devotes  himself  to  his  metaphysical  studies. 

Towards  two  o'clock,  his  pulse  rose  to  100;  his  heart  beat  fre- 
quently ;  several  persons  felt  its  pulsations.  M.  D.,  who  until 
now  had  been  very  calm,  and  conversed  with  the  company  on 
different  subjects,  exclaimed  that  he  was  delirious  ;  he  began  to 
sing,  took  out  his  pencil,  and  endeavored  to  write  down  what  he 
felt.  Here  are  some  fragments  of  his  notes  :  "  It  is  droll  ;  my 
feelings  are  very  vivid  ;  the  idea  of  being  useful  without  fear, 
made  me  decide  on  taking  this  excellent  drink  ;  I  am  singular. 
They  are  laughing  at  me;  I  will  not  write  any  more."  He  threw 
away  his  paper  ;  his  delirium  increased.  The  features  of  M.  D. 
become  very  flexible  ;  he  laughs  sardonically  ;  the  expression  of 
his  eye  is  animated,  his  face  red,  his  pulse  120,  the  pupil  dilated. 


CAUSES  OF  HALLUCINATIONS.  337 

Like  Mr.  B.,  he  looks  extremely  liappy;  laughs,  sings,  gesticu- 
lates, and  speaks  with  extreme  volubility.  His  ideas  follow  each 
other  with  rapidity;  it  is  the  derangement  of  gay  mania.  But 
in  the  midst  of  this  abundance,  mobility,  and  variableness  of  ideas, 
those  which  form  the  basis  of  his  studies  predominate.  These 
serious  subjects  are  intermixed  with  pleasantries,  bonmots,  and 
puns.  His  tongue  is  dry  ;  he  spits  frequently  ;  his  inferior  ex- 
tremities are  slightly  convulsed.  He  remarks  on  this  himself, 
and  says:  "This  is  a  very  singular  delirium."  Like  Mr.  B., 
his  hearing  and  sight  are  very  acute.  He  has  no  notion  of  time 
and  space,  but  recognizes  every  one  present,  and  replies  cor- 
rectly to  questions  put  to  him.  He  draws  out  his  watch,  and 
says,  with  the  greatest  calmness:  "It  is  such  an  hour.''  A 
multitude  of  ideas  seem  to  fill  his  head,  which  he  cannot  express  ; 
he  says  :  "  You  might  take  an  ear,  or  an  eye,  if  you  could  give 
me  another  tongue  to  make  known  what  I  feel." 

The  pulse  lowers  ;  it  is  softer,  and  beats  but  90  in  the  minute. 
The  delirium  continues  ;  water  is  given  to  him  ;  he  exclaims  : 
"  That  will  make  the  frogs  come,  who  will  drink  up  the  liquor." 
Incoherent  sentences  follow  with  inconceivable  rapidity. 

The  character  of  his  delirium  changes.  He  seats  himself  in 
a  corner,  closes  his  eyes,  and  talks  to  himself;  he  looks  inspired. 
We  surround  him  ;  he  speaks  of  sciences,  and  gives  definitions  ; 
then,  like  a  man  trying  his  powers,  he  pronounces  a  few  broken 
words,  and  immediately  recites  some  twenty  very  harmonious 
verses.  Being  under  the  impression  that  they  were  well-known 
stanzas,  we  omitted  to  note  them  down  ;  but  on  some  one  pre- 
sently asking  him  if  they  were  not  by  Victor  Hugo,  he  replied, 
"  No."  "  They  are,  then,  your  own  ?"  He  gave  a  sign  of  assent. 
His  countenance  expressed  gayety  and  satisfaction  ;  his  skin  be- 
came very  pallid  ;  his  pulse  100  ;  his  eyes  closed,  which  he 
opened  on  the  request  of  his  brother  ;  the  pupil  less  dilated. 

He  left  ofi"  improvising  to  speak  of  foreign  countries.  We  had 
been  told  that  in  these  experiments  the  phenomenon  of  second 
sight  would  be  developed.  M.  J),  described  countries  and  cities, 
which  he  had  visited,  with  as  much  correctness  as  though  they 
were  then  before  him  ;  he  perfectly  recollected  the  peculiarities 
which  he  had  noticed  in  his  travels  ;  in  like  manner,  he  told  us 
that  he  saw  the  stones  of  the  Pantheon,  at  Naples,  raised,  and 
drew  a  very  poetical  picture  of  the  scenes  which  had  struck  him. 
22 


338  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

But  notwithstanding  all  our  questions,  he  could  not  describe 
places  with  which  he  was  unacquainted.  He  saw  objects  which 
had  no  existence.  His  brother  inquired  if  he  could  look  into  his 
brain.  "  No,  it  is  empty  ;"  then  he  added  :  "  How  do  you  think 
I  can  see  into  your  brain  ;  it  is  veiled  ;  there  are  objects  between 
it  and  me."  He  then  arose,  saying  :  "  All  this  is  a  dream  ;  this 
state  of  aberration  has  given  a  livelier  impulse  to  my  ideas,  but 
has  not  added  to  my  knowledge." 

The  delirium,  which  for  some  time  had  been  confined  to  a 
series  of  ideas,  now  became  general  again  ;  he  sang,  laughed, 
and  talked  with  great  vivacity  ;  he  experienced  no  suffering  ; 
and  said  he  was  very  happy.  This  state  lasted  for  four  hours 
and  a  half,  when  I  left  the  party.  The  pulse  at  90;  the  spitting 
frequent,  and  a  constant  desire  to  drink.  The  interlocutor  had 
power  to  make  him  speak  and  act  as  he  chose.* 

The  experiments  which  we  witnessed  presented  several  remark- 
able phenomena.  The  individuals  under  the  influence  of  hasch- 
isch felt  a  maniacal  exaltation  ;  ideas  succeeded  each  other  with 
rapidity  and  incoherence  ;  it  might  be  said,  with  an  ebullition 
which  raised  them  above  the  influence  of  the  will.  The  mind 
was  under  the  empire  of  hallucinations  and  illusions.  Recollec- 
tions could  be  evoked  and  revivified,  as  though  they  were  real, 
but  they  must  be  those  with  which  the  individual  was  acquainted  ; 
for,  when  interrogated  on  unknown  things,  he  replied  that  he 
could  not  speak  of  what  he  had  not  seen  ;  or,  if  he  attempted  a 
description,  it  was  obscure.  As  in  dreams,  there  was  a  loss  of 
all  idea  of  time  and  space.  In  one  of  the  subjects  the  excite- 
ment was  raised  to  a  pitch  which  gave  a  much  greater  intense- 
ness  to  his  faculties,  and  enabled  him  to  improvise  some  poetry  ; 
however,  there  is  no  proof  that  he  had  not  before  thought  of  it. 
What,  however,  is  certain,  is,  that  Mr.  D.  said  he  made  the  ex- 
periment with  the  idea  of  increasing  his  intellectual  resources, 
but  that  it  had  not  added  anything  to  his  knowledge. 

In  the  midst  of  this  tangled  web  of  ideas,  of  this  state  which 
the  subjects  of  it  called  a  singular  folly,  the  sentiment  of  person- 
ality was  preserved.  Thus,  nothing  could  be  more  curious  than 
the  contrast  of  their  rational  replies  to  the  questions  addressed 

*  Brierre  de  Boismont,  Gazette  Médicale,  2d  Mai,  1840. 


CAUSES  OF  HALLUCINATIONS.  339 

to  them,  with  the  wandering  of  their  ideas,  when  nothing  recalled 
them  to  actual  life. 

In  the  one  case,  a  fact  was  noticed  having  some  analogy  with 
the  principle  of  the  duality  of  mind — a  fact  which  Dr.  Wigan 
wished  to  establish.  The  individual  heard  conversation  with  one 
ear  and  music  with  the  other.  Those  who  tested  the  experi- 
ments had  voluptuous  sensations,  and  exhibited  a  considerable 
development  of  the  sense  of  hearing.  Delirious  conceptions, 
fixed  ideas,  a  disturbance  of  the  affections,  and  irresistible  im- 
pulses were  equally  remarked  in  them. 

It  is  curious  to  perceive  in  this  work,  the  eight  phenomena  which 
M.  Moreau  has  described  in  his  work  on  Haschisch,  published 
five  years  after  our  researches;  but  we  do  not  coincide  more  now 
than  we  formerly  did,  in  the  opinion  of  our  honorable  brother 
on  the  primordial  fact  of  the  delirium  which  he  calls  maniacal 
excitement,  and  on  the  absolute  identity  of  the  physiological  na- 
ture of  delirium  with  the  dream  state.  Without  confounding  all 
our  ideas  of  the  value  of  words,  it  is  difficult  to  give  the  name 
of  maniacal  excitement  to  the  condition  of  a  man  who,  having  a 
false  idea  or  sensation,  appreciates  them  at  their  just  value,  and 
yet  is  unable  to  escape  their  influence,  any  more  than  it  is  pos- 
sible to  conceive  a  dream  to  be  physiologically  and  psychologi- 
cally identical  with  a  delirium. 

M.  Théophile  Gautier  has  published,  in  La  Presse,  an  article 
on  the  efi"ects  of  haschisch  on  himself  : — 

"  We  had  long  heard,"  says  this  writer,  "  without  giving  much 
faith  to  it,  of  the  wonderful  efl"ects  produced  by  this  substance. 
We  were  already  acquainted  with  the  hallucinations  caused  by 
smoking  opium,  but  haschisch  was  only  known  to  us  by  name. 

"  One  of  our  companions.  Dr. ,  who  had  travelled  much  in 

the  East,  and  was  a  determined  opium-eater,  was  the  first  to  yield 
to  its  influence,  having  taken  a  much  larger  dose  than  the 
others;  he  saw  the  stars  in  his  plate,  and  the  firmament  in  the 
soup  dish;  then  turning  his  face  to  the  wall,  talked  to  himself,  and 
burst  into  fits  of  laughter  with  eyes  flashing  and  in  the  highest 
state  of  glee.  I  felt  perfectly  calm  until  dinner  was  over,  al- 
though the  pupils  of  the  eyes  of  my  other  friend  began  to 
sparkle  strangely  and  acquire  a  most  singular  turquoise  blue 
tint.  The  table  being  cleared,  I  (still  having  my  senses)  ar- 
ranged myself  comfortably  with  cushions  on  a  divan  to  await 


340  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

the  ecstasy.  In  a  few  minutes  a  general  lethargy  overcame  me. 
My  body  appeared  to  dissolve  and  become  transparent.  I  saw 
the  haschisch  which  I  had  eaten,  distinctly  within  me,  under  the 
form  of  an  emerald,  from  which  thousands  of  little  sparks  were 
emitted;  my  eyelashes  lengthened  indefinitely,  twisting  them- 
selves like  golden  threads  around  little  ivory  wheels,  which  whirled 
about  with  inconceivable  rapidity.  Around  me  were  figures  and 
scrolls  of  all  colors,  arabesques,  and  flowery  forms  in  endless 
variety,  which  I  can  only  compare  to  the  variations  of  the  ka- 
leidoscope. I  still  occasionally  saw  my  companions;  but  they 
appeared  disfigured;  half  men,  half  plants  ;  now,  with  the  pensive 
air  of  the  ibis,  standing  on  one  leg  ;  and  again,  as  ostriches,  flap- 
ping their  wings,  and  wearing  so  strange  an  appearance  that  I 
shook  with  laughter  in  my  corner;  and,  as  if  to  join  in  the  buf- 
foonery of  the  scene,  I  commenced  tossing  up  my  cushions, 
catching  them  as  they  descended,  and  twisting  them  round  with 
all  the  dexterity  of  an  Indian  juggler.  One  of  the  gentlemen 
addressed  a  discourse  to  me  in  Italian,  which  the  haschisch  by  its 
extraordinary  power  delivered  to  me  in  Spanish.  Questions  and 
answers  were  almost  rational,  and  touched  on  indifi"erent  mat- 
ters, such  as  the  theatres  and  literature. 

"  The  first  stage  drew  towards  its  termination.  After  some 
minutes  I  recovered  my  calmness,  without  headache,  or  any  of 
the  symptoms  which  accompany  the  use  of  wine,  and  feeling  very 
much  astonished  at  what  bad  passed.  Another  half  hour  had 
scarcely  elapsed,  when  I  again  fell  under  the  influence  of  the 
haschisch.  The  vision  this  time  was  more  complicated  and  extraor- 
dinary. Millions  of  butterflies,  whose  wings  rustled  like  fans,  flew 
about  in  the  midst  of  a  confused  kind  of  light.  Gigantic  flowers 
with  crystal  calyces,  enormous  hollyhocks,  gold  and  silver  lilies 
arose,  and  burst  into  flowers  around  me  with  a  crackling  sound 
like  that  of  bouquets  of  fireworks.  My  hearing  was  prodigiously 
developed  ;  I  heard  the  sound  of  color — green,  red,  blue,  and 
yellow  sounds  struck  me  with  perfect  distinctness.  A  glass  up- 
set, the  creaking  of  a  chair,  or  a  word  spoken,  howsoever  low, 
vibrated  and  resounded  like  the  rolling  of  thunder;  my  own 
voice  appeared  so  loud  that  I  dared  not  speak  for  fear  of  throw- 
ing down  the  walls,  or  bursting  like  a  bomb  ;  more  than  five 
hundred  clocks  chimed  the  hour  with  their  flutelike  voices.  Every 
object  gave  forth  a  note  of  the  harmonica  or  ^olian  harp.     I 


CAUSES  OF  HALLUCINATIONS.  341 

swam  in  an  ocean  of  sound,  wherein  some  passages  of  the  Lucia 
and  Barhiere  floated,  like  little  islets  of  light.  Never  before 
had  I  bathed  in  such  beatitude  ;  I  was  so  encircled  by  its  waves, 
so  transported  from  all  things  earthly,  so  lost  to  self — that  odious, 
ever-present  witness — that  I  comprehended  for  the  first  time 
what  might  be  the  existence  of  elementary  spirits,  and  angels, 
and  souls  released  from  this  mortal  coil.  I  was  as  a  sponge  in  the 
midst  of  the  sea;  every  instant  waves  of  happiness  washed  over 
me,  entering  and  departing  through  the  pores;  for  I  had  become 
permeable,  and,  even  to  the  smallest  capillary  vessel,  my  whole 
being  was  filled  with  the  color  of  the  fantastic  medium  in  which 
I  was  plunged.  Sounds,  perfumes,  and  light  reached  me  by 
multitudes  of  beams,  delicate  as  hair,  through  which  I  heard  the 
magnetic  current  pass. 

"According  to  my  calculation,  this  state  must  have  lasted  for 
three  hundred  years,  for  the  sensations  succeeded  each  other  so 
numerously  and  powerfully,  that  the  real  appreciation  of  time  was 
impossible.  When  the  attack  was  over,  I  perceived  that  it  had 
lasted  a  quarter  of  an  hour.* 

"  What  is  very  curious  in  the  intoxicating  efiect  of  the  hasch- 
isch is,  that  it  is  not  continuous;  it  comes  and  goes  suddenly — 
raises  you  to  heaven,  and  places  you  again  on  earth,  without  any 
gradual  transition  ;  like  madness,  too,  it  has  its  lucid  intervals. 
A  third  attack,  the  last  and  strangest,  terminated  my  oriental 
soiree.  In  this,  my  sight  was  doubled.  Two  images  of  each 
object  were  reflected  on  my  retina,  and  produced  a  complete 
symmetry  ;  but  soon,  the  magic  paste  being  entirely  digested, 
acted  with  more  power  on  my  brain,  and  I  became  completely 
mad  for  the  space  of  an  hour.  All  kinds  of  Pantagruelic  dreams 
passed  through  my  fancy  ;  goat-suckers,  storks,  striped  geese, 
unicorns,  grifiins,  nightmares,  all  the  menagerie  of  monstrous 
dreams,  trotted,  jumped,  flew,  or  glided  through  the  room. 
There  were  horns  terminating  in  foliage,  webbed  hands  ;  whim- 
sical beings,  with  the  feet  of  the  arm-chair  for  legs,  and  dial- 
plates  for  eyeballs  ;  enormous  noses,  dancing  the  Cachucha, 
mounted  on  chickens'  legs.     For  myself,  I  imagined  I  was  the 

*  Many  of  these  phenomena,  and  amongst  others  that  of  the  duration 
of  time,  are  mentioned  in  the  picturesque  descriptions  given  in  the  Opium- 
Eater. 


342  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

paroquet  of  the  Queen  of  Sheba,  and  imitated,  to  the  best  of  my 
ability,  the  voice  and  cries  of  that  interesting  bird.  The  visions 
became  so  grotesque  that  I  was  seized  with  a  desire  to  sketch 
them,  which  I  did  in  five  minutes,  with  inconceivable  rapidity, 
on  the  backs  of  letters,  cards,  or  any  piece  of  paper  on  which  I 

could  lay  my  hands.     One  of  them  is  the  portrait  of  Dr.  , 

as  he  appeared  to  me,  seated  at  the  piano,  dressed  as  a  Turk, 
with  a  sun  painted  on  the  back  of  his  vest.  The  notes  are  re- 
presented escaping  from  the  instrument  in  the  form  of  guns 
and  spirals,  capriciously  intertwisted.  Another  sketch  bears 
this  inscription  :  'An  animal  of  hereafter.'  It  represents  a  liv- 
ing locomotive,  with  a  swan's  neck  terminating  in  the  jaws  of  a 
serpent,  whence  issue  jets  of  smoke,  with  two  monstrous  paws, 
composed  of  wheels  and  pulleys  ;  each  pair  of  paws  has  a  pair  of 
wings  ;  and  on  the  tail  of  the  animal  is  seated  the  Mercury  of 
the  ancients,  who  is  confessing  himself  to  be  conquered,  notwith- 
standing his  heels.  Thanks  to  haschisch,  I  have  painted  from 
nature  the  portrait  of  a  goblin.  Even  now,  I  fancy  I  hear  them 
whining  and  mowing  at  night  in  my  old  beauffet."* 

The  marvellous  effects  of  haschisch  being  made  known,  we 
experimented  on  hypochondriacs,  in  presence  of  several  of  the 
faculty  who  had  given  most  study  to  this  substance.f  The 
state  of  these  patients  was  in  no  degree  modified,  and  we  do 
not  think  that  the  virtues  attributed  to  this  substance  gained 
many  partisans.  Besides,  its  use  is  not  without  danger.  The 
Eastern  governments  must  have  considered  it  to  be  great,  to 
have  interdicted  its  use.  Let  it  not  be  forgotten,  that  Madden 
and  Desgenettes  saw  several  lunatics  in  the  hospital,  at  Cairo, 
who  had  lost  their  reason  simply  from  the  use  of  haschisch. J 
Quite  recently,  the  papers  called  attention  to  numerous  cases  of 
mental  alienation  noticed  at  Constantinople,  owing  to  the  use  of 

*  La  Presse,  10th  July,  1843.  Every  one  will  recognize  in  tUis  descrip- 
tion, a  perfect  similitude  with  Cases  CXLII.  and  CXLV.  For  more  ample 
details,  examine  the  work  of  M.  Aubert  Roche,  entitled  De  la  peste  et  dii 
Typhus  de  L'Orient,  1843,  1  toI.  Svo.,  and  above  all,  the  work  of  Dr. 
Moreau,  on  Haschisch. 

f  Annuaire  de  Thérapeutique  de  M.  Bouchardet,  pour  1845,  p.  32. 

X  Brierre  de  Boismont,  Influence  de  la  civilisation  sur  le  développement 
de  la  folie. 


CAUSES  OF  HALLUCINATIONS.  343 

haschisch.*  It  is  not  long  since  we  read  the  following  account 
in  a  public  journal  : — 

"  A  frightful  scene  occurred  on  the  30th  of  May,  on  board  the 
Empress,  a  packet-ship  of  the  Austrian  Lloyd,  on  the  run  from 
Trebizond  to  Constantinople.  The  number  of  passengers  was 
above  two  hundred,  two-thirds  of  whom  were  Turks  and  Persians. 
Amongst  them  were  two  Affghan  dervishes  of  Candahar.  At 
three  in  the  afternoon,  their  prayers  being  concluded,  the  derv- 
ishes were  seized  with  a  paroxysm  of  frenzy,  the  consequences 
of  which  were  terrible.  In  an  instant,  they  had  shot  a  young 
Greek,  stabbed  an  Armenian,  and  Lloyd's  agent  from  Trebi- 
zond. Six  other  passengers  were  more  or  less  dangerously 
wounded.  Finally,  by  order  of  the  captain,  the  sailors  killed 
the  dervishes  with  the  bayonet.  These  furious  madmen  were 
from  forty  to  forty-five  years  of  age,  and  of  the  sect  of  the 
Schittes.  They  commenced  the  carnage  without  provocation. 
From  the  report  of  several  passengers,  it  appears  certain  that 
they  had  become  intoxicated  with  haschisch.  For  a  time,  the 
Turks  and  Persians  on  board  appeared  inclined  to  take  part  with 
them,  but  the  energy  of  the  captain  happily  prevented  this."f 

Indeed,  a  prolonged  indulgence  in  this  drug  must  necessarily 
have  a  fatal  effect  on  the  health.  The  momentary  loss  of  reason, 
although  it  be  intentional,  presents  but  a  melancholy  spectacle. 

There  is  a  poisonous  substance,  which  has  also  the  power  of 
producing  hallucinations,  called  stramonium  (datura  stramonium), 
thorn-apple,  which  has  been  latterly  recognized  as  their  antidote, 
in  imitation  of  that  weapon  of  the  olden  time,  which  is  said  to 
have  cured  the  wounds  it  made. 

Case  CXLV.  Some  years  since,  a  musical  composer,  under 
the  distress  occasioned  by  domestic  griefs,  attempted  suicide. 
For  this  purpose,  he  took  a  strong  dose  of  datura.  The  effect 
of  this  poison  was  exhibited  in  giddiness  and  all  the  symptoms 
of  intoxication.  He  saw  troops  of  men  whirling  in  a  circle  be- 
fore him,  who  endeavored  to  drag  him  into  their  vortex.  All 
the  characters  in  the  ballet  of  Gustavus,  in  which  he  had  been 
engaged  during  the  evening,  appeared  to  him  making  grimaces, 
and  harassing  him  in  every  way.     He  fell  to  the  ground,  sense- 

*  De  l'abus  de  Haschisch,  Annal.  Méd.  Psy.,  Jan.  1851. 
t  La  Presse,  22d  June,  1845. 


344  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

less,  and  was  taken  to  the  guardhouse,  where  he  gave  way  to 
the  greatest  violence,  imagining  himself  to  be  surrounded  by 
assassins,  robbers,  and  wretches,  who  sought  to  injure  him. 
These  figures  were  countless  in  numbers,  of  gigantic  stature,  and 
hideous,  in  appearance.  He  was  taken  to  the  Hôtel  Dieu,  and 
placed  under  the  charge  of  M.  Husson,  who  treated  him  for  furious 
delirium.  On  the  following  day,  when  he  was  brought  to  my 
establishment,  his  excitement  had  greatly  diminished.  The 
pupils  of  the  eyes  were  still  dilated,  and  extraordinary  figures 
still  visible.  This  phenomenon  soon  ceased,  and  in  two  or  three 
days  he  was  cured. 

On  the  21st  of  November,  1843,  three  young  children  ate  a 
quantity  of  the  seeds  of  the  datura.  Symptoms  were  soon  ma- 
nifested similar  to  those  caused  by  the  ingestion  of  that  sub- 
stance ;  numerous  hallucinations  of  sight  were  united  to  these 
phenomena,  in  two  of  the  sick  children.  On  the  following  day 
the  symptoms  were  considerably  diminished  in  all  three,  but  the 
youngest  felt  a  great  weakness  in  the  limbs.  The  day  after,  all 
uneasiness  had  disappeared  as  if  by  enchantment.* 

Several  patients,  under  the  influence  of  datura,  which  had  been 
applied  according  to  Dr.  Moreau's  method,  saw  animals  in  the 
middle  of  their  beds.     The  vision  occurred  chiefly  in  the  night. 

Hallucinations  and  illusions  are  equally  excited  by  the  berries 
of  belladonna.  An  account  is  given  in  the  great  Dictionnaire 
des  Sciences  Médicales  of  a  company  of  soldiers,  who,  having 
inadvertently  eaten  of  this  fruit,  experienced  numerous  illusions. 
M.  Baillarger,  in  his  clinical  lectures  in  the  Saîtpêtrière,  has 
described  several  cases  of  this  character  ;  a  maid-servant,  hav- 
ing taken  an  infusion  of  belladonna  on  the  approach  of  her 
periods,  had  an  attack  of  delirium  ;  she  was  surrounded  by  little 
animals  running  on  the  ground,  of  various  colors  and  sizes.  She 
attempted  to  seize  one,  but,  instead  of  an  animal,  caught  only  a 
leaf,  as  is  related  in  the  Stories  of  the  Thousand  and  One  Nights^ 
and  in  the  legends  of  Treasures  sold  hy  the  Devil.'f 

*  Examinât.  Med.,  15th  of  May,  1843. 

t  The  use  of  narcotic  beverages,  and  poisonous  substances,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  causing  transformations,  of  preparing  for  initiation,  etc.,  is  traced 
far  into  antiquity.  M.  Eusèbe'  Salverte  has  collected  many  examples  in 
his  work  on  the  Occult  Sciences. 

Prosper  Alpin  relates  that,  in  his  time,  the  Egyptians  used  a  number  of 


CAUSES  OF  HALLUCINATIONS.  345 

The  third  section  comprises  hallucinations  combined  with  mental 
aliénation.    It  should  be  observed  that,  in  many  circumstances, 

intoxicating  drinks,  which  made  them  act  like  madmen.  Whenever  they 
wished  to  excuse  a  bad  action,  they  said  they  had  partaken  of  herbs.  lie 
describes  the  principal  ones  under  the  names  of  "affion,  anis,  bora,  ber- 
nari,  and  bus,"  and  enters  into  some  details  of  their  composition  (Prosper 
Alpin,  De  Medicini  ^gypUamm,  lib.  iv.  cap.  v.  p.  118-122). 

Kempfer  speaks  of  a  medicine  of  this  character,  the  effects  of  wfiich  ap- 
peared similar  to  those  of  nepenthe,  which  we  believe  to  be  Indian  hemp. 
Having,  with  his  companions,  partaken  of  an  electuary  given  to  him  during 
a  repast  by  the  Indians,  they  felt  so  happy  that  they  could  only  express 
their  joy  by  laughter,  cries,  and  reciprocal  caresses.  At  night,  when  they 
mounted  their  horses  to  return  home,  they  thought  themselves  carried  by 
Pegasus  through  the  clouds,  surrounded  by  rainbows  ;  and,  on  recovering 
from  this  effect,  they  were  ravenously  hungry,  and  ate  with  avidity  what- 
ever was  offered  to  them.  On  the  following  day  their  health  of  mind  and 
body  was  excellent. — Sauvages,  Nosol.  Meth.,  class  viii.  gener.  xvii.  lim. 
iii.  par.  i.  p.  371.  Friedreich,  Algemeiiie  Diagnoctik  der  psycsischen  Krank- 
eiten,  Wurzburg,  1830. 

The  muchamore  is  a  mushroom,  common  in  Kamtschatka  and  Siberia. 
Bencowski  relates  that  a  Siberian  schuman  whom  he  consulted,  used  an 
infusion  of  muchamore  ;  this  drink  first  plunged  him  into  delirium,  then  into 
a  deep  sleep.  If  eaten  either  dry  or  infused,  it  sometimes  produces  death, 
always  strong  delirium,  sometimes  of  a  gay  character,  at  others  full  of 
sadness  and  terror.  Those  who  partake  of  it  believe  themselves  to  be  un- 
der the  irresistible  power  of  the  spirit  that  lives  in  the  poisonous  mush- 
room. In  one  of  these  paroxysms,  a  Cossack  imagined  that  the  spirit 
desired  him  to  confess  his  sins  ;  and  so,  in  fact,  he  did,  before  all  his  com- 
rades.— Krakenninikof,  Description  du  Kamtschatka,  part  i.  chap.  iv. 

Porta  and  Cardan  give  two  receipts  for  witches'  ointment;  nightshade 
formed  the  basis  of  the  one,  henbane  and  opium  of  the  other.  The  wise 
Gassendi,  in  order  to  enlighten  those  poor  wretches  who  believed  them- 
selves witches,  endeavored  to  discover  their  secret,  and  to  imitate  it.  With 
an  ointment  in  which  he  introduced  opium  (probably  belladonna),  he 
anointed  the  peasantry,  and  persuaded  them  that  by  that  means  the}^  would 
go  to  the  sabbath.  After  a  long  sleep,  they  awakened,  convinced  that 
the  magical  proceeding  had  taken  effect;  gave  a  detailed  account  of 
what  they  had  seen,  and  the  pleasures  they  had  enjoyed  ;  and  related  in 
what  respect  the  action  of  opium  was  marked  by  voluptuous  sensations. — 
Eusèbe  Salverte,  op.  cit.  p.  294. 

A  witch  was  found,  in  1545,  in  possession  of  an  ointment  composed  of 
stupefying  drugs.  André  Laguna,  physician  to  Pope  Julius  III.,  used  it 
to  anoint  a  woman  who  was  attacked  with  frenzy  and  restlessness.  She 
slept  for  thirty-six  hours,  and  when  they  succeeded  in  waking  her,  com- 
plained that  they  had  taken  her  from  the  arms  of  a  handsome  young  man. — 
Llorente,  Hist,  de  L'Liq.,  t.  iii.  p.  428. 

This  hallucination  may  be  compared  with  those  experienced  by  women 


346  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

they  precede  the  development  of  insanity,  so  that  they  may 
be  considered  as  causes  ;  but  in  a  great  number  of  cases,  appear 

devoted  to  the  -worship  of  the  mother  of  the  gods,  vrho  heard  continually 
the  sound  of  flutes  and  tambourines,  saw  the  merry  dances  of  fauns  and 
satyrs,  and  felt  inexpressible  pleasures. — Eusèbe  Salverte,  p.  295. 

The  aspirants  to  initiation,  and  those  who  came  to  demand  umens  of  the 
gods,  in  dreams,  partook,  after  a  prescribed  fast,  of  food  expressly  pre- 
pared for  them  ;  and  above  all,  of  mysterious  beverages,  such  as  the  waters 
of  Lethe,  and  the  waters  of  Mnemosyne,  in  the  grotto  of  Trophonius,  or  the 
Cicéion,  in  the  Eleusinian  mysteries. 

Of  the  substances  intended  to  produce  the  most  important  effects  in  occult 
ceremonies,  the  soporific  were  the  simplest  and  the  most  common.  Plu- 
tarch has  preserved  a  description  of  the  mysteries  of  Trophonius,  written 
by  a  man  who  had  passed  two  days  and  two  nights  in  the  grotto.  They 
appear  more  like  the  dreams  of  a  man  intoxicated  by  a  powerful  narcotic, 
than  any  real  scenes.  Timarchus,  the  name  of  the  initiated,  experienced 
a  violent  headache  when  the  apparitions  commenced,  or,  what  is  the  same 
thing,  when  the  beverage  began  to  affect  his  senses  ;  and  when  the  appa- 
ritions vanished,  that  is,  when  he  awoke  from  his  delirious  sleep,  the  same 
pain  occurred. 

Timarchus  died  in  three  months  after.  Doubtless  the  priests  used  very 
powerful  drugs. — Plutarch,  De  Dœmonio  Socratis. 

Varron,  quoted  by  St.  Augustin,  says  that  the  Italian  sorceresses  enticed 
the  too  confiding  travellers  to  follow  them,  and  made  them  eat  of  a  cheese 
containing  a  drug,  which  changed  them  into  beasts  of  burden.  They  then 
loaded  them  with  their  baggage,  and,  at  the  end  of  the  journey,  changed 
them  again  into  their  natural  forms.  Under  these  figurative  expressions, 
copied  from  Yarron,  who  surely  quoted  his  own  experience,  it  is  evident 
that  the  mind  of  the  traveller  was  so  disturbed  by  the  drug  he  had  taken, 
that  he  blindly  submitted  to  its  singular  influence  until  the  magicians  put 
an  end  to  it  by  administering  an  antidote. — St.  Augustin,  De  civitate  Dei, 
lib.  xviii.  cap.  xvii.,  xviii.  See  La  Traduction  de  M.  Moreau,  edition  Char- 
pentier, 1843. 

We  will  not  refer  to  the  enchantments  of  Circe,  their  authenticity  not 
being  established  ;  but  there  is  no  doubt  that,  in  that  far  distant  period, 
the  properties  of  certain  poisonous  plants  were  understood.  A.  Laguna,  in 
his  commentaries  on  Dioscorides,  mentions  a  kind  of  solanum,  the  root  of 
which,  taken  in  wine,  a  drachm  to  a  dose,  fills  the  imagination  with  the 
most  delicious  illusions. — Dioscorides,  lib.  76,  cap.  iv.  ;  cité  par  Llorente, 
Hist,  de  L'Inq.,  p.  457. 

In  collating  the  various  opinions  on  the  Nepenthes  of  Homer,  M.  Virey 
discovers  it  in  the  hyoscyamus  datura  of  Forskal,  which  is  used  through- 
out Egypt  and  the  East  in  an  analogous  manner  ;  and  this  writer  points 
out  several  substances  capable  of  producing^-^Çects  no  less  wonderful. — 
Virey,  Bidletin  de  Pharmacie,  t.  v.  Feb.  1813,  pp.  49,  50, 

Pliny  says  that  the  "  potomantes,  or  thalasséglé,  grows  on  the  banks  of  the 


CAUSES  OF  HALLUCINATIONS.  347 

during  the  mental  malady,  wlien  they  are  but  an  effect,  a  symp- 
tom, a  result.  Here,  several  questions  present  themselves:  Does 
hallucination  depend  on  organic  derangement  brought  on  by 
disease  ?  Is  it  united  to  the  psycho-cerebral  excitation  which  has 
caused  insanity — in  a  word,  is  it  physical  or  moral  ?  The  dis- 
tinction is  often  very  difficult;  nevertheless,  the  nature  of  the 
hallucination,  and  its  direct  connection  with  the  cause  of  the  in- 
sanity, is  authority  for  believing  that  it  is  often  owing  to  moral 
excitement.  With  these  reservations,  we  think  that  the  action 
of  mental  diseases,  although  not  sufficiently  understood,  should 
none  the  less  be  classed  amongst  physical  causes. 

In  treating  of  hallucinations  as  combined  with  insanity,  we 
have  shown  that  they  are  very  common;  so  also  are  illusions  in 
monomania,  stupidity,  and  mania.  We  have  equally  observed 
them  in  puerperal  mania,  dementia,  and  even  general  paralysis 
with  dementia.  We  conclude,  from  analogy,  that  they  may  pos- 
sibly exist  in  some  degrees  of  imbecility.  For  farther  informa- 
tion, we  refer  to  the  different  chapters  on  alienation.  * 

Those  hallucinations  which  show  themselves  with  nervous 
diseases  other  than  madness,  are  classed  under  the  fourth  sec- 
tion— such  as  catalepsy,  epilepsy,  hysteria,  hypochondria,  and 
frenzy.*  To  this  section  belong  certain  nervous  conditions  which, 
without  being  completely  morbid,  have  more  than  one  root  in 
pathology;  such  are  nightmare  and  ecstasy.  We  will  here  re- 
peat the  remark  made  in  the  preceding  chapter  ;  it  is  not  always 
easy  to  separate  the  two  influences  (moral  and  physical)  ;  for 
example,  ecstasy  is  very  often  due  to  the  first  of  these  causes, 
and  hypochondria,  as  has  been  proved  by  M.  Dubois  of  Amiens, 
in  his  work,  submits  equally  to  its  action.  We  must  not,  how- 
ever, attach  more  importance  to  classifications  than  they  merit  ; 
they  are  artificial  assistants  to  the  mind,  and  incessantly  present 
exceptions  to  the  rule.  In  collecting  facts  of  hallucinations  as  de- 
veloped in  nervous  diseases  (madness  excepted)  into  a  single  group, 
we  know  very  well  that  many  of  these  states  were  determined 
by  moral  causes  ;  but  our  object  was  to  make  a  single  section  of 

Indus,  and  the  gelatophellis  near  Bactria.  Infusions  of  these  two  plants, 
made  into  a  drink,  cause  delirium;  the  one  causes  extraordinary  visions, 
the  other  excites  continual  laughter." 

*  Sandras,  Traité  pratique  des  maladies  nerveuses,  1851,  p.  360. 


348  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

these  maladies,  and  to  exhibit  their  morbid  influence  on  the 
production  of  hallucinations.  As  to  the  developments  which 
comprise  the  subject  of  this  fourth  division,  they  will  be  found 
suiEciently  illustrated  elsewhere. 

The  fifth  and  last  section  comprehends  hallucinations  which 
occur  in  inflammatory,  acute,  and  chronic  diseases,  and  in  seve- 
ral other  aflections.  AciUe  delirium,  to  which  subject  we  invited 
attention  in  a  paper  read  to  the  Royal  Academy  of  Medicine, 
has  appeared  to  us  to  establish  a  natural  transition  between  the 
preceding  divisions,  and  this  one,  by  reason  of  its  double  ele- 
ment, nervous  and  inflammatory.*  The  febrile  state  is  that 
which  presents  the  most  hallucinations.  They  are  equally  noticed 
in  some  congestions  and  inflammation  of  the  organs.  They  are 
not  unusual  in  typhoid  and  intermittent  fevers.  Some  authors 
have  related  remarkable  instances  of  their  occurrence  in  the 
gout.  Certain  dispositions  of  the  body,  such  as  the  last  stages 
of  hectic  diseases,  abstinence,  and  convalescence,  syncope,  and 
prolonged  watching,  are  all  favorable  to  their  production. 
Becker  relates  that  thirty-two  shipwrecked  mariners,  after  a 
lengthened  watch,  believed  that  they  saw  sloops,  and  fishermen 
drying  their  nets,  with  Moors  and  Dutchmen  of  their  acquaint- 
ance, whose  clothing  they  perfectly  distinguished. f  Finally, 
they  have  been  observed  in  some  constitutions  subject  to  peculiar 
atmospheric  influence. 

We  have  endeavored,  to  the  best  of  our  power,  to  explain  the 
causes  of  hallucinations.  We  do  not  flatter  ourselves  with  hav- 
ing brought  them  all  into  notice  ;  but  we  believe  that  our  work 
will  provide  useful  materials  for  the  etiology  of  this  afi'ection. 
It  now  remains  to  draw  up  a  succinct  summary. 

Recapitulation. — The  etiology  of  hallucinations  and  illu- 
sions has  never  been  the  subject  of  a  special  work,  because  all 
authors  have  looked  upon  them  as  an  adjunct  of  madness. 

Former  hallucinations,  those  compatible  with  reason — isolated 
hallucinations,  and  those  which  are  united  with  diseases,  may 
furnish  useful  instructions  on  their  etiology. 

Hallucinations  appearing  with  mental  diseases,  their  division 

*  Brierre  de  Boismont,  Du  Délire  aigu  observé  dans  lee  établissements 
d'aliénés.     Ouvrage  couronné  par  l'Institut  de  France,  1845,  4to. 
t  Le  Monde  Enchanté,  t.  iv.  pp.  55,  56. 


CAUSES  OF  HALLUCINATIONS.  349 

« 

into  moral  and  physical  causes  may  also  apply  to  them.  The 
mode  in  which  hallucinations  are  developed  in  epidemic  illusions 
evidently  applies  to  moral  influence. 

Education,  credulity,  the  dominant  ideas  of  the  epoch,  and 
different  states  of  society,  should  be  the  objects  of  special  study 
in  the  research  for  causes. 

Amongst  the  moral  causes  which  have  exercised  a  great  influ- 
ence on  hallucinations,  may  be  placed  the  belief  in  the  power 
and  co-operation  of  spirits,  demons,  sorcery,  magic,  lycantrophy, 
visions  of  souls  in  punishment  asking  for  prayers,  of  spirits  who 
make  revelations,  announce  an  approaching  death,  return  to 
fulfil  a  compact,  vampirism,  ecstasies,  etc. 

All  passions,  fixed  ideas,  and  great  preoccupation,  may  be  a 
source  of  hallucinations.     Remorse  must  especially  be  noted. 

A  great  number  of  hallucinations  are  occasioned  by  physical 
causes. 

The  principal  physical  causes  which  influence  the  development 
of  hallucinations  may  be  classed  under  five  heads  : — 

To  the  first  belong  inheritance,  the  sexes,  the  times,  tempera- 
ment, professions,  physiological  causes,  seasons,  climate,  and 
•places. 

The  second  comprehends  mechanical  causes,  fermented  liquors, 
alcoholic  beverages,  certain  gaseous  and  narcotic  substances  ; 
poisons,  such  as  opium,  haschisch,  datura  stramonium,  bella- 
donna, and  several  others. 

The  third  head  embraces  hallucinations  attendant  on  mental 
alienations  ;  whether  preceding  them,  occurring  during  their 
course,  or  succeeding  them. 

Under  the  fourth  head  may  be  ranked  hallucinations  which 
show  themselves  with  catalepsy,  hysteria,  hypochondria,  rage, 
nightmare,  sleep,  and  ecstasy.  These  different  states  present 
distinctions;  thus,  sleep,  a  physiological  phenomenon,  is  only 
placed  in  the  catalogue  on  account  of  nightmare,  and  because 
the  hallucinations  observable  in  it  are  often  the  commencement 
of  disease,  or  at  least  of  an  abnormal  disposition.  Ecstasy,  we 
have  only  brought  into  the  group  on  account  of  the  pathological 
state  which  it  may  determine;  but  we  have  elsewhere  observed 
that  the  hallucinations  which  it  occasions  are  often  due  to  moral 
causes. 

Finally,  around  the  fifth  and  last  head,  are  grouped  halluci- 


350  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

> 
nations  remarked  in  acute,  chronic,  and  other  diseases.  In  this 
section,  we  have  placed  those  occurring  in  acute  delirium,  the 
diseases  of  the  brain,  fever,  congestions,  inflammations  of  the 
organs,  typhoid  and  intermittent  fevers,  gout,  pellagra,  chlorosis, 
the  last  stage  of  chronic  diseases,  abstinence,  syncope,  conva- 
lescence, and  some  constitutions  under  atmospheric  influence. 

It  is  probable  that  hallucinations  have  been  seen  in  other 
forms  of  disease  ;  but  in  order  to  appreciate  their  mode  of 
action,  it  is  sufficient  for  us  to  notice  those  in  which  they  are 
most  frequently  exhibited. 


CHAPTER    XV. 

ON  HALLUCINATIONS  CONSIDERED  IN  A  PSYCHOLOGICAL,  HISTORI- 
'  CAL,  AND  RELIGIOUS  POINT  OF  VIEW. 

Difference  of  the  psychology  of  hallucinations,  as  dependent  on  soundness  of 
mind  or  insanity — Incitements  to  madness — Introduction  of  physiology  into  his- 
tory— The  philosophy  of  history  contrary  to  this  doctrine — Development  of  sen- 
sorial impressions  in  the  brain  ;  the  change  which  they  undergo — Hallucinations 
differ  according  to  the  character  of  individuals — A  few  words  on  the  nature  and 
seat  of  hallucinations — Influence  of  the  nervous  and  sanguine  systems — Of  the 
nature  of  ideas — Division  of  ideas  into  spiritual  and  sensual — The  second 
alone  furnish  materials  for  hallucinations — Influence  of  attention,  comparison, 
imagination,  memory,  and  association,  on  the  mechanism  of  hallucination — Cor- 
poreity of  spiritual  ideas  caused  by  the  abuse  of  abstraction — Apparitions  of 
Cassius,  Brutus,  and  Julian — Hallucinations  do  not  alone  borrow  their  mate- 
rials from  actual  ideas  ;  they  are  also  reminiscences  of  old  and  erroneous 
impressions — The  origin  of  false  ideas  may  be  found  in  a  forgetfulness  of  the 
knowledge  of  God  and  of  self — In  many  cases,  hallucination  is  almost  a  normal 
state,  which  explains  why  so  many  celebrated  men  have  been  attacked  by  it, 
without  becoming  insane — Historical  hallucinations  show  themselves  first  in 
persons  collectively  ;  secondly  individually — Examples  of  Loyola,  Luther,  Joan 
of  Arc,  and  G.  Fox — Each  of  these  characters  may  be  looked  on  as  the  per- 
sonification of  an  epoch,  a  useful  idea — Their  hallucinations  do  not,  in  general, 
offer  any  analogy  to  those  of  the  present  time,  which  are  more  or  less  com- 
bined with  madness — In  every  celebrated  man  there  is  a  spiritual  character 
(history),  and  a  mortal  character  (biography) — Many  hallucinations  are  those 
of  the  age,  not  of  the  individual — A  line  of  division  ought  to  be  established 
between  the  apparitions  of  Holy  Writ  and  the  hallucinations  of  profane 
history,  and  even  those  of  many  Christians — Recapitulation. 

A  PRELIMINARY  studj  has  initiated  us  into  a  knowledge  of  the 
moral  and  physical,  social  and  individual  causes,  which  concur 
in  favoring  the  development  of  hallucinations  ;  but  it  is  neces- 
sary to  penetrate  deeper  into  the  nature  of  this  phenomenon;  to 
analyze,  as  much  as  possible,  its  mode  of  formation,  and  its  con- 
stituent elements,  and  to  indicate  its  general  and  particular 
characteristics;  such  will  be  the  object  of  this  secondary  study, 
which  we  will  call  psychological. 


352  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

The  contest  wliicli  we  have  maintained  to  establish  the  co- 
existence of  hallucinations  with  reason,  will  meet  with  stronger 
and  more  obstinate  opposition  on  this  new  ground.  In  fact,  the 
explanation  of  this  phenomenon  must  necessarily  offer  very  dis- 
tinct différences,  according  to  whether  it  is  viewed  in  the  light 
of  madness  or  of  sound  reason.  In  the  first  case,  hallucinations 
will  be  the  consequence  of  deranged  health  ;  in  the  second,  it 
will  be  a  physiological  state,  resulting  from  a  higher  degree  of 
attention  and  enthusiasm  ;  the  auxiliary,  and  not  the  provocative 
of  the  idea. 

In  order  that  the  suit  now  brought  before  science  may  be 
properly  judged,  we  should  first  point  out  the  reasons  advanced 
by  our  adversaries,  and  afterwards  develop  our  principles  and 
the  facts  on  which  they  rest;  by  this  method,  the  whole  matter 
will  be  under  observation,  and  judgment  can  be  pronounced 
when  the  case  has  been  heard. 

The  celebrated  M.  Lélut,  who  may  justly  be  considered 
as  head  of  the  school  which  has  introduced  physiology  into 
history,  has  explained  his  doctrine  in  the  following  words  : 
"Let  us  look  at  Socrates,  who  not  only  imagines  that  he  receives 
influences  and  divine  inspirations,  but  who  believes  that,  by  vir- 
tue of  this  privilege,  he  possesses  a  similar  influence  over  his 
friends  and  disciples,  and  almost  over  strangers,  even  when  at 
a  distance  from  them,  and  to  whom,  in  the  exercise  of  this  fa- 
culty, stone-walls  ofl"er  no  impediment.  One  cannot,  in  fact, 
see  or  hear  anything  more  extravagant  or  more  characteristic  of 
insanity  ;  and  hallucinists,  who,  to  my  knowledge,  pretend  to 
impart  or  to  receive  physical  influences  from  a  distance  by  aid 
of  magnetism  and  free-masonry,  express  themselves  in  like 
manner  with  Socrates,  and  are  not,  in  this  view,  greater  madmen 
than  he  was.  In  modern  times,  the  insanity  of  Tasso,  Pascal, 
Rousseau,  Swammerdam,  Vanhelmont,  and  Swedenborg,  are  now 
almost  universally  acknowledged  by  men  who  blended  the  study 
of  morbid  psychology  with  that  of  history  and  philosophy."* 

Leuret,  in  his  Fragmens  PsycJwlogiques,  and  M.  Calmeil,  in 

*  Lélut,  Du  Démon  de  Socrate,  specimen  of  the  application  of  psycho- 
logical science  to  that  of  history,  enlarged  from  Mémoires  sur  les  Halluci- 
nations et  la  Folie,  183G,  p.  121. 


HALLUCINATIOXS  IN  A  RELIGIOUS  POINT  OF  VIEW.  353 

his  work,*  have  upheld  the  same  doctrine,  which  is  likewise  that 
of  M.  Baillarger. 

M.  Al.  Maurj,  who  has  supported  the  opinions  of  M.  Lélut, 
by  his  deep  researches  and  vast  erudition,  also  observes  that 
notice  must  be  taken  of  the  effect  which  the  temperament  and 
health  of  individuals  has  on  civil  society. 

According  to  this  scholar,  events  are  almost  always  accom- 
plished by  isolated  or  single  wills  and  individual  acts,  and  con- 
sequently, historical  facts  may  often  fall  under  the  empire  of 
physiological  laws.f 

The  philosophy  of  history  is  entirely  at  variance  with  this 
proposition.  It  shows,  in  fact,  that  individuals  never  lead  their 
epoch;  the  proof  of  which  is,  that  if  the  ideas  which  they  defend 
have  not  attained  maturity,  or  if  they  precede  their  age,  the 
originators  almost  always  perish  on  the  scaffold,  in  torture,  in 
misery,  or  in  obscurity;  they  are  fortunate  if  they  are  not  stigma- 
tized with  the  ban  of  madness.  As  to  those  favorites  of  fortune  and 
renown,  who  are  happy  enough  to  live  at  the  right  time,  success 
attends  them  so  long  as  they  respond  to  the  general  need;  but  if, 
dazzled  by  their  triumphs,  they  attempt  to  substitute  their  own 
wills  for  those  of  others,  and  turn  the  current  of  ideas  to  their 
own  profit,  they  are  almost  invariably  precipitated  from  the 
exalted  station  in  which  circumstances  have  placed  them.  Man, 
notwithstanding  his  pride,  is  but  an  instrument  in  the  hands  of 
Providence,  and  Bossuet  has  well  said  :  "  Man  moves,  but  it  is 
God  who  leads  him." 

Amongst  other  objections  which  have  been  addressed  to  me, 
it  has  been  said:  "You  have  not  decided  whether  hallucination 
is  or  is  not  a  disease.  A  phenomenon  either  is  or  is  not  normal. 
There  is  in  hallucination  something  more  than  a  mental  error, 
there  is  a  fact." 

*De  la  Folie,  considérée  sur  le  point  de  vue  pathologique,  philosophique, 
historique,  et  judiciaire,  2  vols.  Paris,  1845. 

t  Al.  Maury,  De  l'hallucination  envisagée  au  point  de  vue  philosophique 
et  historique,  ou  Examen  critique  de  l'opinion  émise  par  M.  Brierre  de 
Boismont  touchant  les  caractères  auxquelles  on  doit  reconnaître  l'hallucina- 
tion chez  certains  personages  célèbres  de  l'histoire. — Annal.  Méd.  Psi/ch. 
t.  v.  p.  317,  1845. 

Calmeil,  De  la  Folie  considérée  sur  la  point  de  vue  pathologique,  philo- 
sophique, historique,  et  judiciaire,  anal,  par  Al.  Maury. — Annal.  Méd.  Psych. 
t.  vii.  p.  110,  1846. 
23 


354  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

To  these  critics  I  reply,  that  they  are  mistaken  in  asserting 
that  I  have  declined  the  question  of  how  far  this  phenomenon  is 
influenced  by  the  state  of  health.  This  is  evident  by  the  divi- 
sion I  have  made  of  hallucinations  into  physiological  and  morbid. 
My  opinion  agrees  with  those  of  the  able  physicians  whom  I  have 
quoted,  that  it  is  distinguished  by  the  following  characteristics, 
viz.  :  when  the  hallucination  is  recognized  by  the  person  affected 
as  an  error,  when  it  exercises  no  evil  influence  on  the  conduct, 
and  is  only  the  effect  of  a  rational  idea,  it  cannot  be  considered 
as  the  act  of  a  madman  ;  but  when  it  incites  to  murder,  to  sui- 
cide, to  the  performance  of  a  culpable  or  ridiculous  action,  con- 
trary to  the  eternal  laws  of  good  sense,  it  is  evidently  morbid. 

The  question  of  limit  presents  insurmountable  difficulties. 
"Who  can  say  :  "There  reason  ends  and  madness  begins  ?"  What 
naturalist  is  prepared  to  lay  down  the  line  of  demarcation  be- 
tween the  last  link  of  the  animal  and  the  first  of  the  vegetable 
kingdom  ?  So  it  is  with  hallucinations.  Let  what  we  have  said 
on  reveries  and  dreams  be  remembered  ;  also,  what  Meister  has 
said  on  the  intermediate  state  between  sleeping  and  waking,  and 
it  will  be  seen  that  there  are  normal  or  almost  normal  hallucina- 
tions, as  well  as  insane  ones  ;  but  there  is  a  period  when  it  be- 
comes almost  impossible  to  separate  them,  although  experience 
may  distinguish  the  differences.  Without  doubt,  there  may  be 
hallucination  in  a  fact  ;  but  the  mirage,  the  square  tower  which 
appears  round,  the  stick  which,  when  plunged  into  water  appears 
broken,  are  also  facts,  and  yet  would  any  one  dare  to  call  those 
who  see  and  believe  in  these  phenomena,  madmen  ? 

Another  observation  need  only  be  mentioned  to  be  appreciated. 
Some  say  it  is  not  surprising  that  the  insane  and  monomaniacs 
perform  great  acts;  they  recognize  no  obstacles;  they  have 
neither  doubt  nor  uncertainty  ;  and  follow  unresistingly  the  real- 
ization of  their  thoughts,  whilst  men  in  their  senses  weigh  all 
the  difficulties  of  their  position,  and  trust  nothing  to  chance. 
In  this  view,  Alexander,  Christopher  Columbus,  and  a  host  of 
others  would  be  madmen.  All  the  heroic  traits  with  which  his- 
tory abounds,  all  those  sublime  actions  which  electrify  us,  all 
those  sacrifices  which  move  us  to  tears,  would  be  but  acts  of  folly, 
for  there  was  no  cold  calculation  in  them  ;  they  were  the  result 
of  enthusiasm,  honor,  and  impulse.  Assuredly,  prudence  often 
decides  on  human  actions  ;  but  are  not  the  highest  of  these  ac- 


HALLUCINATIONS  IN  A  RELIGIOUS  POINT  OF  VIEW.  355 

tiens  frequently  owing  to  extreme  exaltation  of  mind,  to  an  irre- 
sistible and  unpremeditated  transport? 

The  question  ably  sustained  by  the  two  writers  whom  we  have 
named,  is,  after  all,  but  the  reproduction,  under  another  form, 
of  the  old  medical  doctrine  of  prepotence  {prepotenza)  of  the 
organs,  a  doctrine  which  has  latterly  been  renewed  by  ingenious 
researches  on  the  subject  of  hereditary  qualities. 

Before  we  touched  on  this  subject,  many  eminent  writers 
had  shown,  how  completely  this  systematical  idea  was  opposed  to 
facts  and  history;  and,  to  give  but  one  example,  several  illustri- 
ous recluses  of  Port  Royal  enjoyed  the  finest  health,  whilst  they 
at  the  same  time  professed  doctrines  exactly  similar  to  those  of 
the  immortal  author  of  the  Pensées.  The  supremacy  of  mind 
over  matter  has  been  noticed  in  a  number  of  cases.  A  renowned 
Asiatic  conqueror  was  informed,  in  his  dying  hour,  that  his  army 
was  on  the  point  of  being  vanquished;  he  gave  orders  to  be  placed 
in  his  palanquin,  with  the  curtains  hermetically  closed,  to  be 
borne  to  the  most  exposed  parts  of  the  field,  and  his  death  not 
revealed  until  the  enemy  was  vanquished.  At  sight  of  the  im- 
perial palanquin,  the  courage  of  the  soldiers  revived;  the  enemy 
was  defeated,  and  fled;  but  on  opening  the  curtains  of  the  palan- 
quin, it  was  discovered  that  the  emperor  had  ceased  to  exist  for 
several  hours.  Sir  Thomas  More,  weakened  by  illness,  and  a  mark 
for  moral  persecution  of  every  kind,  laid  his  head  courageously 
on  the  block  in  witness  to  his  religious  faith.  Molière,  so  great 
in  mind,  so  profound  in  observation,  was  sickly  and  melancholy, 
yet  no  dramatist  will  ever  equal  the  richness,  truth,  and  bold- 
ness of  the  comic  sallies  in  his  immortal  works.  Does  Scarron, 
twisted  by  rheumatism  into  the  form  of  a  Z,  exhibit  in  his  works 
any  trace  of  his  physical  state?  Fetter  not  then  the  mind — that 
active  agent  which  rather  governs  our  organization  than  is  gov- 
erned by  it — by  the  humiliating  yoke  of  organs  and  their  mor- 
bid conditions.  Finally,  has  not  the  illustrious  Pascal  himself, 
whose  sufferings  may  be  considered  the  moving  spring  of  his 
actions,  given  the  most  convincing  proof  of  the  superiority  of 
mind  over  the  organs,  in  the  following  fact  mentioned  by  M. 
Lélut:  "  This  great  man  had  a  severe  toothache,  the  commence- 
ment of  the  second  stage  of  those  infirmities,  which  were  des- 
tined soon  to  bear  him  to  the  grave.  His  friend  and  admirer, 
the  Duke  of  Roannez,  left  him  one  night  suffering  greatly  from 


356  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

that  neuralgic  affection;  on  the  following  clay,  finding  him 
cured,  he  inquired  how  it  had  been  effected.  Pascal  told  him, 
without  appearing  to  attach  any  importance  to  it,  and,  as 
though  he  had  used  an  ordinary  remedy,  that  he  had  solved 
the  problems  of  the  cycloid  curve  or  wheel,  and  that,  during 
his  labor,  the  pain  had  disappeared."  Without  recurring  to 
such  elevated  examples,  there  are  few  who  have  not  witnessed 
a  complete  cessation  of  suffering  under  the  influence  of  study, 
distraction,  and  conversation.  We  see  daily,  far  removed  from 
the  eyes  of  the  world,  virtuous  minds  exhibiting  the  struggle  of 
mind  with  suffering,  whilst  the  former  remains  uninjured.  Those 
who  have  watched  the  last  hours  of  real  Christians  cannot  for- 
get their  elevation  of  thought  and  serenity  of  soul.  Indeed, 
the  weakest  bodies  frequently  possess  the  most  unconquerable 
minds. 

We  have  never  attempted  to  deny  the  action  which  a  sickly 
condition  of  the  organs  exerts  over  the  will  ;  and,  on  this  subject, 
we  think  with  M.  Cerise,  that  they  may  be  influenced  by  a  fit  of 
the  spleen,  or  a  disordered  stomach.  Does  it  follow  that  these  two 
circumstances  should  interpose,  like  superior  elements  in  the  phi- 
losophy of  history?  " I  should  imagine,"  says  the  author  quoted, 
"that  care  would  be  taken  to  describe  the  influence  of  the  charac- 
ter, or,  in  other  words,  the  temperament  of  certain  men  on  their 
actions  in  the  aggregate;  but  that  has  been  done  by  the  greater 
number  of  historians  and  biographers,  and  I  do  not  think  that 
the  least  scientific  revolution  remains  to  be  made,  in  that  re- 
spect, which  will  benefit  the  philosophy  of  history.  It  is  for 
the  science  of  the  harmony  of  physics  and  moral  law  to  furnish 
the  elements  of  a  deeper  appreciation,  and  it  is  this  science 
which  should  be  enlarged  and  perfected.  To  enter  into  a 
detailed  account  of  individual  infirmities,  in  order  to  throw 
light  upon  the  course  of  human  affairs,  the  rise  and  fall  of 
nations,  and  to  hail,  under  this  pretext,  tlie  introduction  of  'phy- 
siology (under  the  name  of  pathology)  into  history^  would  be  to 
mutilate  that  great  and  noble  study,  and  lower  it  from  the  emi- 
nence, on  which  it  has  ever  stood,  to  a  most  degraded  position.* 
The  action  attributed  to  disease  on  the  determinations  of  the 
will  has  been  made,  by  M.  Carrière,  the  subject  of  the  follow- 

*  Analysée  par  M.  S.  Cerise  [Annal.  Méd.  Psych.),  t.  vi.  184G.    De  la 
première  edition  de  cet  ouvrage. 


HALLUCINATIONS  IN  A  RELIGIOUS  POINT  OF  VIEW.  357 

ing  reflections  :  "  Let  a  man  depart  ever  so  little  from  the  com- 
mon road,  he  will  be  called  diseased  ;  let  him  have  a  rich  imagi- 
nation, which  strives  to  bring  before  his  mental  vision  the  scenes 
of  an  unknown  world,  he  will  be  called  visionary  and  mad.  No- 
thing will  be  perfect  but  vulgarity,  nor  any  one  be  considered 
in  health  but  vulgar  men. 

"Such  a  conclusion  as  this  will,  before  long,  be  mistrusted  by 
sound  medical  sense,  and  will  soon  be  rejected."* 

Thus,  to  attempt  to  make  doctrines,  belief,  and  convictions, 
depend  on  the  sickly  state  of  the  body,  is  to  advance  a  propo- 
sition which  may  be  true  of  the  character  and  disposition,  but 
is  entirely  false  as  it  relates  to  the  phenomena  of  consciousness 
which  passes  in  the  mind.  Psychological  facts  do  not  act  like 
those  of  physiology  ;  but,  like  them,  they  have  their  own  laws. 
If  they  are  mysteriously  united  by  certain  points  of  affinity, 
they  differ  completely  in  their  nature  ;  the  one  being  impalpable, 
the  other  tangible. 

The  decided  influence,  then,  of  a  morbid  organic  state  in  the 
yjroduction  of  hallucinations  is,  in  substance,  the  doctrine  of 
those  who  desire  the  introduction  of  physiology  into  history  ; 
whilst,  on  the  contrary,  the  integrity  of  reason  in  the  hallucina- 
tions of  many  celebrated  characters,  the  secondary  influence  of 
the  organs  in  limited  cases,  is  our  philosophical  point  of  view  ; 
and  to  the  elucidation  of  which  we  consecrate  the  following 
pages. 

In  the  chapter  of  hallucinations  as  compatible  with  reason, 
we  collected  cases  suitable  to  form  a  foundation  for  this  part  of 
our  work;  it  now  remains  for  us  to  interpret  their  signification, 
and  describe  their  results. 

Sensorial  impressions  are  incessantly  reaching  the  brain 
through  the  nerves,  which  act  as  conductors;  they  there  accu- 
mulate in  numbers,  surpassing  all  possible  calculation.  At  the 
moment  when  these  sensations  touch  the  organ,  and  cause  per- 
ception, a  change  occurs  in  their  nature  ;  they  are  absorbed  by 
the  cerebral  substance,  and  appear  to  lose  their  sensible  signs. 
The  mind  may  evoke  them  from  the  first  moment  of  their  ap- 
pearance until  the  latest  period  of  life,  and   reproduce  them 

*  Lélut,  de  l'Amulette  de  Pascal,  analy.  par  M.  E.  Carrière.  Gazette 
Médicale,  1847,  p.  269. 


358  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

with  the  greatest  fidelity,  by  means  of  phonetic  and  graphic 
signs  ;  but  the  eye  will  not  perceive  them  with  those  brilliant 
colors  and  lively  characters  which  they  at  first  exhibited. 

There  are,  however,  exceptions  to  this  rule.  Some  men  have 
the  capacity  of  extracting  animated  sensations  from  the  brain, 
and  of  seeing  things  as  if  they  were  really  before  them.  Seve- 
ral physiological  or  pathological  conditions,  reveries,  dreams, 
concentrations  of  thought,  prolonged  meditations,  the  interme- 
diate time  between  waking  and  sleeping,  fever,  or  insanity,  may 
revivify  sensations,  and  give  to  them  the  force  of  reality. 

The  silent  transformation  of  sensations  was  too  essential  for 
us  not  to  press  a  consideration  of  the  subject.  We  will  now 
commence  the  psychological  study  of  the  causes,  which  at  times 
may  give  to  sensations  the  appearance  of  reality. 

If  the  principal  fact,  the  production  of  the  image  of  the  sen- 
sible sign,  be  everywhere  the  same,  its  mode  must  necessarily 
vary  in  individuals,  and  according  to  circumstances.  We  can- 
not consider  as  identical,  the  hallucinations  of  the  madman  and 
the  child,  the  dreamer,  the  poet,  the  thinker,  the  man  power- 
fully preoccupied  or  engrossed,  he  who  recognizes  their  falsity, 
and  does  not  allow  them  to  influence  his  conduct,  or  he  who 
yields  to  them  as  to  the  prevalent  belief  of  the  age,  as  the  action 
of  certain  substances,  etc.  etc.  No  man  who  believes  in  that 
religion  which  has  performed  such  wonders,  rendered  such  im- 
portant services,*  given  birth  to  so  many  prodigies,  and  which  is 
daily  a  thousand  times  more  useful  than  all  the  united  efforts  of 
philanthropy,  but  will  reject  the  opinion  that  prophets,  apostles, 
and  saints  were  hallucinated  madmen.  There  is  no  philosopher 
or  partisan  of  those  beautiful  doctrines,  often  marked,  it  is  true, 
with  error,  but  which  have  no  less  proved  of  what  the  human 
intellect  is  capable,  who  consents  to  rank  the  greatest  minds  of 
antiquity  with  mad  hallucinists. 

The  material  part  of  an  idea,  its  image,  is  very  early  mani- 
fested in  man.  It  is  a  fact  that  many  children,  perhaps  all, 
have  the  faculty  of  imagining  phantoms  in  the  dark.  With  some 
this  power  is  simply  passive,  but  others  have  the  will,  or  semi- 
will  to  call  up  or  excite  these  singular  effects.     "  A  child  whom 

*  Revue  des  Deux  Mondes.  Du  Mouvement  Catholique,  par  M.  Louan- 
drc,  Nov.  et  Dec.  1843. 


HALLUCINATIONS  IN  A  RELIGIOUS  POINT  OF  VIEW.  359 

I  questioned  on  the  subject,"  says  one  writer,  "replied  :  'I  can 
tell  them  to  come,  and  they  come  ;  but  they  come  sometimes 
when  I  do  not  call  them.'  " 

When  imagination,  sparkling  with  youth,  lavishes  its  trea- 
sures, visions  in  the  shape  of  chimeras  and  golden  dreams  take 
possession  of  the  mind  ;  whole  hours  are  devoted  to  fanciful  pro- 
jects; but,  whatever  may  be  their  fascination,  a  simple  effort  of 
reason  suffices  to  sweep  away  all  this  vapory  phantasmagoria, 
like  clouds  or  columns  of  smoke  dispersed  by  the  wind.  From 
the  heights  of  our  fanciful  transformations,  from  being  rich, 
powerful,  authors,  or  kings,  we  once  again  become  "Gros  Jean." 
Doubtless,  a  powerful  moral  or  physical  emotion  may  transform 
these  undecided  forms  into  hallucinations  ;  but  it  is  no  less  cer- 
tain that  we  are  always  masters  of  ourselves  when  we  can  dis- 
miss them  at  will. 

One  fact  is  decided  by  a  research  into  psychological  phenomena, 
which  is  painful  to  contemplate,  namely,  that  delirious  conceptions 
are  forever  flitting  around  man,  similar  to  those  insects  that  are 
seen  whirling  around  by  thousands  on  a  fine  summer  evening. 
Dim,  confused,  and  unimportant  whilst  reason  is  on  the  watch, 
they  are  the  constituent  elements  of  those  castles  in  the  air  to 
which  we  all  pay  tribute.  In  dreams  their  power  increases,  and 
their  physiognomy  is  more  decided  ;  then  it  is,  says  Conolly, 
that  they  show  themselves  to  us  in  the  shape  of  landscapes,  seas, 
rivers,  and  countries.  Now  they  arise  as  vast  cities,  impenetra- 
ble forests,  objects  infinitely  varied,  fantastic  costumes,  and 
grotesque  architecture  ;  now  they  are  persons  of  different  classes, 
variously  occupied;  figures  grotesque,  deformed,  or  threatening; 
the  beginning,  middle,  or  end  of  thoughts  ;  voices  which  whisper 
and  reveal  all  that  is  hidden  in  the  depths  of  the  heart  ;  in  a 
word,  the  pictured  forms  of  those  thousand  combinations  which 
compose  thought. 

In  the  midst  of  these  dreams,  wild  and  delirious  ideas  may  be 
seen  inundating  the  brain  through  all  its  senses,  and  sometimes 
even  with  a  consciousness  of  the  fact.  In  fever,  this  series  of 
imperfect  ideas,  which  buzzed  around  harmlessly  whilst  reason 
was  sound,  occupy  its  place,  drive  away  those  which  belong- 
to  attention  and  comparison,  and  reign  there  as  sovereigns.  We 
insist  on  this  psychological  fact,  which  appears  to  us  a  power- 


360  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

fui  argument  in  favor  of  the  predominance  of  moral  over  physi- 
cal causes  in  the  production  of  mental  diseases. 

Men  who  are  powerfully  preoccupied  with  one  idea,  may,  by 
a  prolonged  concentration  of  it,  see,  by  their  mental  eyes,  that 
idea  materialized.  In  proportion  as  the  excitement  diminishes, 
the  thoughts  return  to  their  natural  course.  The  image  has  been 
the  culminating  point  of  their  meditation.  They  believe  that 
they  have  seen,  perhaps  they  have  seen,  that  which  was  the 
object  of  their  interests  ;  nothing  unusual,  nothing  abnormal, 
has  marked  this  phenomenon,  and  what  dissipates  all  their 
doubt  is,  that  the  resolves  and  actions  which  are  the  conse- 
quences of  this  exclusive  thought,  which  has,  as  it  were,  en- 
grossed their  whole  being,  will  prove  perfect  in  their  results,  and 
attest  the  power  of  the  most  noble  faculties  of  the  mind. 

Thus  we  believe  that  hallucination  exists  in  a  multitude  of 
different  cases.  If  it  constitutes  the  phenomenon  of  an  over- 
excitement  of  the  brain,  it  is  far  from  being  a  constant  symp- 
tom of  derangement.  In  a  great  portion  of  mankind  it  is 
almost  a  normal  condition  ;  but  these  considerations,  howsoever 
interesting,  can  give  us  but  a  very  confused  and  inaccurate  idea 
of  it.  We  must  endeavor  to  sound  its  depths,  develop  its 
secrets,  and,  above  all,  seek  to  discover  what  has  been  its  real 
influence  on  so  many  illustrious  men,  who  have  been  in  conse- 
quence the  subjects  of  bitter  censure. 

We  have  never  attempted  to  separate  mind  from  matter, 
although  these  two  substances  are  entirely  distinct,  and  the  influ- 
ence of  the  one  appears  to  us  very  superior  to  that  of  the  other. 
That  they  are  bound  together  by  a  mysterious  link  is  undeniable, 
but  facts  in  the  domain  of  psychology  have  a  mode  of  being 
completely  difi"erent  from  those  in  the  physical  domain.  We, 
therefore,  willingly  allow  that  hallucinations  are  of  a  nervous 
nature,  and  have  their  seat  in  the  brain  ;  remarking  only  on  the 
possibility  that  other  parts,  especially  the  ganglionic  system, 
concur  in  the  production  of  certain  impressions  ;  but  in  order 
that  they  may  adopt  the  form  of  an  idea,  they  must  be  sub- 
mitted to  the  action  of  the  nervous  centre  ;  there  is  no  intel- 
lectual operation  without  its  concurrence. 

In  speaking  of  the  secondary  causes  of  hallucinations,  we 
have  described,  in  the  medical  portion  of  the  work,  the  influence 
of  nervous  and  sanguine  elements  in  the  production  of  halluci- 


HALLUCINATIONS  IN  A  RELIGIOUS  POINT  OF  VIEW.  361 

nations,  "without  being  always  cognizant  of  their  mode  of  action, 
that  being  the  material  limit  to  which  we  cannot  attain. 

The  uneasiness  caused  by  sleeplessness,  doubtless  contributes 
to  augment  the  state  of  erythismus,  favorable  to  hallucinations  ; 
and  this  is  a  very  common  phenomenon.  The  dread  of  darkness 
still  more  augments  this  disposition.  In  this  case,  it  is  really 
an  excess  of  sensibility  ;  but  the  conditions  appear  to  us  different 
when  the  diseased  person  is  going  to  sleep,  or  when  he  is  on  the 
point  of  awaking.  In  the  first  case,  there  exists  fatigue  pro- 
duced by  the  exertions  of  the  day  ;  in  the  second,  the  repose 
consequent  on  sleep,  or  at  least  a  different  state  from  waking. 
The  mode  of  circulation  and  the  nervous  condition,  cannot  be  the 
same  in  these  three  cases.  The  production  of  hallucinations 
would  then  have  much  analogy  with  the  delirium  produced  by 
cerebral  inflammation  and  abstinence  ;  with  convulsions,  caused 
by  congestion  of  the  blood,  and  also  by  a  great  loss  of  blood; 
that  is  to  say,  that  the  same  phenomenon  may  be  produced 
under  exactly  opposite  organic  circumstances.  As  to  hallucina- 
tions which  occur  by  day,  they  are  also  influenced  by  a  greater 
activity  in  the  circulation  of  the  blood,  and  of  the  nervous  sys- 
tem, owing  to  the  concentration  of  the  mind  on  one  fixed  idea  ; 
but,  again,  these  causes  are  secondary;  something  more  is  needed 
to  produce  hallucinations. 

In  order  fully  to  understand  hallucinations  in  a  psychological 
point  of  view,  let  us  pause  a  few  moments  to  consider  the  nature 
of  the  ideas  which  we  have  studied,  in  the  chapter  on  causes, 
and  on  civil,  social,  and  individual  influences.  They  may  be 
referred  to  two  sources  ;  those  based  on  the  senses  (sensual 
ideas,  secondary),  and  those  which  have  their  origin  in  the  mind 
and  in  God  (spiritual  ideas,  primary). 

The  part  which  the  senses  are  called  upon  to  act  should  be 
exactly  understood  ;  their  function  is  to  transmit  to  the  brain 
the  image  of  external  objects;  to  give  it  notice  of  their  presence 
by  a  particular  movement;  but  they  do  not  impart  to  it  the  idea. 
Thus,  a  man  who  cannot  read,  sees  written  characters,  his  eye 
distinguishes,  but  his  mind  does  not  comprehend  them. 

"Idea,"  says  M.  l'Abbé  Forrichon,  "is  the  notion,  which 
passes  from  one  individual  to  another,  from  generation  to  gene- 
ration ;  whereas  the  image  is  only  communicated  by  the  object. 
The  idea  is  understood,  the  image  is  pictured.     The  idea  rests 


362  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

in  the  thought,  the  impression  on  the  senses.  Thus,  even  in 
taking  sensations  for  the  point  of  comparison,  it  cannot  be 
rigorously  said,  Niliil  est  in  iîitellectu,  quod  non  2^^ius  fuerit  in 
sensu. 

"Ideas,  furnished  by  the  senses,  are  the  first -which  are  mani- 
fested in  the  order  of  evolution  ;  this  does  not,  in  any  respect, 
mean  that  they  pre-exist  mental  ideas  ;  however,  the  epithet 
secondary,  which  we  have  applied  to  them,  sufficiently  points 
out  our  meaning.  It  could  not  be  otherwise,  without  our  being 
other  than  we  are,  and  occupying  a  different  rank  in  creation  ; 
such  are  the  ideas  of  a  child.  But  the  vividness  of  sensations 
at  this  age,  their  rapidity,  number,  and  mobility,  would  naturally 
predispose  it  to  intellectual  disorders,  which  is  just  what  has 
been  observed.  If  the  impression  which  it  receives  of  a  body 
in  contact  with  the  senses  be  too  powerful,  or  the  organ  too 
weak  to  sustain  the  emotion,  the  result  will  be  trouble  and  con- 
fusion instead  of  a  distinct  perception  of  sensible  attributes. 
Thus  too  bright  a  light  produces  darkness.  In  order  that  the 
impression  be  clear  and  the  notion  correct,  it  is  necessary  that 
the  object  impressed  and  the  sensitive  organ  preserve  between 
themselves  suitable  correspondences,  which  continue  the  condi- 
tion of  a  normal  sensation. 

The  brain,  which  may  be  considered  an  immense  reservoir,  in 
which  are  deposited  the  millions  of  images  brought  by  the 
senses,  enjoys  the  faculty,  by  aid  of  certain  conventional  signs, 
of  reflecting  them  on  the  instant,  or  reproducing  them  at  a 
greater  or  less  subsequent  period,  in  the  absence  of  the  external 
stimulus;  in  the  same  way  that  a  man  feels  pain  in  an  ampu- 
tated limb.  This  faculty  is  brought  into  play  by  attention, 
comparison,  imagination,  memory,  and  association.  By  virtue 
of  one  of  these  influences,  the  mind  may  evoke  events  and 
scenes  which  have  just  happened  or  which  occurred  long  since; 
it  can  also  select,  from  actual  impressions,  those  which  are  most 
pleasing,  in  order  to  form  new  combinations,  which  represent 
imaginary  scenes  and  events.  These  operations  become  more 
easy  in  proportion  as  the  reveries  are  indulged  in. 

For  a  certain  time,  the  mind  can  accept  these  pictures  as 
realities,  but,  on  the  least  recall  of  attention,  the  vision  vanishes, 
and  this  change  is  owing  to  reason,  which  compares  these  fanci- 
ful creations  with  tlie  actual  condition   of  the  external  world. 


HALLUCINATIONS  IN  A  RELIGIOUS  POINT  OF  VIEW.  863 

Association  of  ideas,  •^^•hicll  Browne  calls  simple  suggestioyi, 
bears  so  pertinent  a  part  in  intellectual  operations,  that  it  is 
important  to  consider  its  most  striking  traits.  Abercrombie 
divides  it  into  three  sections  ;  philosophic  or  natural  association, 
local  or  accidental  association,  and  arbitrary  or  fictitious  associa- 
tion. The  first  takes  23lace  when  anything  on  -which  the  attention 
is  fixed  is  found,  by  an  operation  of  the  mind,  to  be  associated 
with  a  foreseen  fact  to  which  it  connects  itself,  or  to  a  subject 
on  which  it  is  destined  to  throw  light  ;  the  second  is  only  formed 
by  fortuitous  connection;  thus  an  accident  occurring  to  a  certain 
person,  or  in  a  certain  place,  is  only  recalled  at  the  sight  of  the 
person  or  place.  This  principle  of  association  may  be  very 
advantageously  applied  as  a  moral  remedy,  in  many  distressing 
maladies. 

Dr.  Rush  has  mentioned  a  circumstance  in  his  work,  which, 
without  bearing  directly  on  our  subject,  is  very  interesting  on 
more  than  one  account. 

Case  CXLVI.  "When  I  was  at  school,"  says  Dr.  Rush,  "  in 
Cecil  County,  Maryland,  I  often  went,  on  holidays,  with  my 
companions,  to  visit  an  eagle's  nest,  which  Avas  placed  on  the 
summit  of  a  dead  tree.  The  daughter  of  the  farmer  in  whose 
field  the  tree  grew,  and  with  whom  I  became  acquainted,  mar- 
ried and  settled  forty  years  ago.  From  time  to  time,  we  met 
and  talked  of  our  childhood's  play,  of  the  country  pleasui'es  of 
that  period,  and  amongst  other  things,  of  the  eagle's  nest. 

"  Some  years  since,  I  was  called  in  to  attend  this  woman, 
vrho  was  in  the  last  stage  of  typhoid  fever.  On  my  arrival,  I 
attracted  her  eye,  and  said  to  her,  in  a  pleasant  and  cheerful 
voice  :  '  The  eagle's  nest.'  She  seized  my  hand,  could  not  pro- 
nounce a  word,  but  her  countenance  expressed  powerful  emotion. 
From  that  moment,  she  began  to  mend.  She  is  now  well,  and 
never  fails,  when  we  meet,  to  salute  me  with  the  words:  'The 
eagle's  nest.'  "* 

The  third  and  last  kind  of  association,  called  arbitrary  or 
fictitious,  is  generally  produced  by  a  voluntary  effort  of  the 
mind  ;  the  facts  have  no  other  connection  than  those  which  arise 
from  this  efi'ort  ;  for  example,  a  piece  of  paper  put  into  a  snuff- 

*  Benjamin  Rush,  Medical  Inquiries  and  Observations  on  the  Diseases 

of  the  Mind,  5th  ed.  Philadelphia,  1835.     Tide  Abercrombie,  ojo.  cit. 


864  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

box,  as  a  reminder  of  something  to  be  recollected.  There  is  a 
variety  of  this  third  species  which  is  produced  without  the 
least  cause  being  apparent.  Circumstances  entirely  forgotten 
suddenly  start  up,  we  know  not  how,  and  cause  infinite  combi- 
nations. 

We  have  seen  that  there  are  two  sources  of  ideas  in  man  ; 
those  which  proceed  from  objects  which  strike  the  senses,  and 
those  which  are  termed  general,  such  as  the  ideas  of  existence, 
quality,  causality,  connection  or  analogy,  time,  order,  law,  good, 
equity,  &c.  These  are  the  attributes  of  mind,  as  sensible  quali- 
ties are  those  of  the  body,  &c. 

This  division  of  ideas — borrowed  from  the  spiritualists,  of 
whom  we  are  proud  to  be  a  disciple,  which  yet  does  not  prevent 
our  placing  a  proper  value  on  the  uses  of  the  organs — is  very 
important  in  the  subject  which  occupies  us  ;  for  persuaded,  as 
we  are,  that  primitive  ideas  cannot  be  impaired,  and  that  their 
essence,  their  type,  experiences  no  touch  of  insanity,  we  think, 
on  the  contrary,  that  sensual  ideas — the  most  numerous,  it  is 
true — contain  the  exclusive  materials  of  derangement  of  mind  ; 
and  if  a  superficial  observation  of  facts  would  seem  to  show  that 
the  first  are  sometimes  drawn  into  the  fatal  circle,  a  more  atten- 
tive examination  proves  that  only  the  sensible  form,  which  the 
imperfection  of  our  nature  obliges  us  to  give  to  immaterial  things, 
is  affected. 

We  can  form  no  conception  of  spiritual  things  without  endow- 
ing them  with  a  face  and  a  form.  We  comprehend,  it  is  true, 
thxit  this  mode  is  defective,  even  false  ;  that  these  things  have  a 
mode  of  being  which  does  not  fall  within  the  range  of  the 
senses  ;  it  is  one  of  those  primary  truths  which  has  only  to  be 
stated  to  be  believed  ;  but  our  finite  nature,  encompassed  by 
matter,  to  which  it  is  bound  by  innumerable  ties,  falls  back 
incessantly  into  the  same  errors.  As  it  receives  its  first  appren- 
ticeship from  the  senses,  and  its  primitive  ideas  are  only 
developed  by  language,  education,  and  tradition  ;  constantly 
obliged  to  abstract  itself;  being,  in  the  greater  number  of  cases, 
only  struck  with  the  material  origin  of  this  operation,  it  only, 
by  consequence,  sees,  in  its  abstractions,  the  qualities  of  the 
bodies  to  which  it  naturally  connects  itself.  Thus,  in  saying 
that  a  stick  is  white,  long,  and  pointed,  each  of  these  qualities 
is  joined  to  the  image  of  the  stick;  in  like  manner,  when  we 


HALLUCINATIONS  IN  A  RELIGIOUS  POINT  OF  VIEW.  365 

affirm  a  man  to  be  good,  amiable,  and  just,  these  divers  attri- 
butes associate  themselves  with  the  human  figure.  Such  is  the 
case,  we  believe,  in  the  spiritual  world  ;  we  attach  a  certain  form 
to  ideas  which  emanate  from  it,  and  their  attributes  become 
materialized  in  our  brain.  A  closer  examination  proves  that 
this  process  of  mind  is  purely  artificial,  and  that  sensible  signs 
attached  to  spiritual  ideas  do  not  develop  them  more  clearly  to 
our  senses.  Besides,  independence  of  mind  is  as  distinct  and 
as  entire  beneath  illusory  sensations,  as  in  those  which  are  regu- 
lated and  conformed  to  the  external  world.  "In  fact,"  says  M. 
l'Abbé  Forrichon,  "  the  diseased  person  who  thinks  he  sees  ser- 
pents, acts  exactly  as  we  should  do  under  the  reality.  But 
although  he  may  hold  incoherent  discourses,  these  discourses 
must  not  be  confounded  with  his  sensations,  and  considered  as 
the  work  of  the  brain  which  produces  the  latter,  because  the  ' 
consequences  drawn  therefrom  argue  another  origin,  and  prove 
that  they  are  not,  like  his  sensations,  a  physiological  production 
of  the  encephalon.  It  is  probably  not  the  brain  which  alarms 
itself  with  its  own  strange  creations  ;  its  pathological  state  is 
only  a  certain  mode  of  being  as  indiff"erent  to  itself  as  any  other 
condition  would  be,  in  relation  to  matter."* 

It  would  be  much  more  astonishing  if  the  sick  man,  with  sen- 
sations so  difi'erent  from  those  which  men  in  health  around  him 
experience,  should  receive  the  same  impressions  with  them  ; 
then,  indeed,  reason  would  be  perverted  and  extravagant.  Let 
us  beware  of  concluding  that  because  the  brain  may  occasion 
the  delirium,  it  is  therefore  the  brain  that  thinks  and  reasons  ; 
as  well  might  we  say  that  the  eye  expatiates  on  colors,  because 
it  makes  us  distinguish  them  with  more  or  less  of  truth. 

This  being  decided,  it  now  remains  to  inquire  how  impressions 
derived  from  the  senses  may  be  reproduced,  without  their  con- 
currence, with  all  the  characters  of  reality.  It  is,  in  fact,  evi- 
dent that  hallucinations,  in  psychological  language,  cannot  be 
considered  as  an  error  of  the  senses,  since  nothing  strikes  them 
from  without.  Doubtless  they  are  formed  in  blindness  and 
in  sleep,  of  images  placed  in  the  brain,  formerly  brought  there 
by  the  senses,  and  which  appear  to  be  outwardly  manifested, 

*  M.  l'Abbé  Forrichon,  Le  Materialism  et  la  Phrenologie  combattues 
dans  leurs  fondemens,  pp.  240,  243,  Paris,  1840. 


366  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

under  influences  which  must  be  appreciated.  It  would  appear 
that  the  emotion  formed  within  from  external  causes,  is  executed 
in  an  inverse  sense.  Malebranche  says  that  the  nervous  fibres 
may  be  affected  in  two  ways  ;  either  by  the  portion  that  is  with- 
out the  brain,  or  by  that  within  the  brain.  If  these  little  fibres 
are  moved  within  the  brain  by  some  cause,  the  mind  recognizes 
something  external.  Charles  Bonnet,  and  other  logicians,  after 
having  laid  down  as  a  principle  that  the  latter  part  of  every 
sensation  is  connected  with  a  special  and  actual  molecular  state 
of  the  brain,  repeats,  that  the  same  sensation  should  be  repro- 
duced each  time  that  the  same  material  combination  is  repro- 
duced in  the  encephalic  mass.  Such  is  also  the  explanation 
given  by  Meyer,  professor  at  the  University  of  Halle,  in  his 
Essay  on  Apparitions."^ 

When  external  and  internal  sensations  reach  the  brain  in  a 
normal  state,  we  are  unconscious  of  their  arrival  ;  but  if  our 
attention  be  strongly  excited,  the  material  form,  the  sensible 
sign  may  immediately  show  itself,  which  leaves  no  doubt  of  their 
presence  in  the  organ.  Thus,  when  we  have  an  intense  desire 
to  represent  an  object,  we  close  our  eyes,  and  it  is  probable  that 
it  will  soon  appear,  confusedly  it  may  be,  but  yet  with  sufficient 
distinctness  for  us  to  form  an  idea  of  it.  A  more  powerful 
concentration  of  thought  might  allow  of  our  seeing  it  in  day- 
light, and  with  open  eyes.  The  image,  at  first  feeble,  pale,  and 
indistinct  in  outline,  seems  as  though  it  would  vanish  every 
moment  ;  but  by  degrees  the  outline  strengthens,  the  colors  be- 
come more  vivid,  and  the  perception  of  the  object  is  complete. 
Finally,  with  a  still  higher  degree  of  meditation,  a  more  entire 
detachment  from  the  external  world,  the  image  which  has  per- 
formed these  difi"erent  evolutions  in  the  brain  comes  forth,  and 
places  itself  in  a  material  form  before  the  eyes. 

These  psychological  facts  are  almost  always  noticed  in  indivi- 
duals devoted  to  works  requiring  deep  meditation  ;  they  are, 
above  all,  very  common  with  novelists  and  poets,  who,  in  their 
transitions  from  the  real  to  the  ideal  world,  are  often  led  to  take 
the  conceptions  of  their  minds  and  the  products  of  their  imagi- 
nations for  realities. 

*  Essay  on  Apparitions.  Attributed  to  M.  Meyer,  Professorat  the  Uni- 
versity of  Ilalle,  A,  D.  1748. 


HALLUCINATIONS  IN  A  RELIGIOUS  POINT  OF  VIEW.  367 

In  proportion  as  their  creations  are  renewed  and  repeated  in 
the  brain,  they  acquire  a  degree  of  vivacity  which  ends  by  over- 
powering all  external  sensations  ;  and  as  clearness  is  the  prin- 
cipal quality  of  a  mental  conception  which  makes  us  believe  in 
the  reality  of  the  object  represented,  it  is  not  surprising  that 
men  of  deep  thought,  Avho  concentrate  their  whole  attention  on 
one  point,  making  it  a  focus  of  light,  should  be  more  exposed 
than  others  to  similar  illusions. 

In  like  circumstances,  the  mind  acquires  a  more  or  less  power- 
ful excitement  in  order  to  produce  these  illusions  ;  but  there  are 
conditions  in  which  they  are  produced  every  instant  in  a  much 
more  sensible  manner  ;  we  would  speak  of  reverie,  of  the  inter- 
mediate state  between  sleeping  and  waking,  and  of  dreams.  It 
often  happens,  for  example,  in  dreams,  that  when  an  object  has 
been  strongly  impressed  on  the  mind  when  awake,  it  reappears 
clearly  and  distinctly  during  sleep. 

It  has  been  asked  why  the  causes  of  these  illusions  do  not 
entirely  destroy  the  normal  action  of  the  brain.  Crichton  had 
replied  to  this  query  before  Gall  wrote  :  "It  is  because  sensorial 
impressions,  the  association  of  ideas,  and  the  operations  of  the 
mind,  not  all  having  their  seat  in  that  portion  of  the  brain 
which  receives  the  morbid  impression,  must  continue  to  exist 
normally  ;  whence  it  results  that  the  individual  must  think  and 
act  as  a  rational  man,  excepting  on  the  subjects  which  relate  to 
his  illusion."  We  view  the  subject  in  a  different  manner  from 
the  English  historian  ;  but,  as  an  historic  record,  we  do  not  feel 
at  liberty  to  suppress  his  explanation. 

Prolonged  meditation,  a  great  preoccupation  of  mind,  or  a 
powerful  or  violent  emotion  may  induce  similar  results. 

Observation,  in  fact,  proves,  that  persons  on  the  point  of  per- 
ishing, have  seen  the  detailed  map  of  their  whole  lives  unrolled 
before  them,  thus  verifying  the  passage  of  Scripture  :  At  the 
day  of  judgment,  every  act  will  be  retraced  in  the  twinkling  of 
an  eye.  "The last  minute  of  the  combatant,"  says  the  Arabian 
proverb,  "is  the  mirror  of  his  life;  all  that  is  dear  to  him  is 
then  present  to  his  thoughts." 

After  intense  occupation,  where  all  the  faculties  have  been 
directed  to  one  point,  material  forms  may  remain  visible  for  a 
length  of  time,  although  the  subject  ceases  to  engage  the  mind. 


368  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

The  celebrated  artist,  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds,  on  quitting  his 
study,  where  he  had  been  many  hours  engaged  in  painting,  took 
the  street  lamps  for  trees,  and  men  and  women  for  bushes  agi- 
tated by  the  breeze.* 

Theory  of  Attention. — In  the  psychological  analysis  of  the 
faculties  which  exert  a  more  or  less  marked  influence  on  the 
production  of  hallucinations,  we  have  placed  attention  in  the 
foreground. 

It  is  important,  before  proceeding  farther,  that  we  thoroughly 
explain  the  value  of  the  theory  to  which  this  faculty  serves 
as  a  foundation.  Viewing  it  in  relation  to  the  intellectual 
and  moral  world,  we  do  not  believe  in  the  omnipotence  of  the 
systems  which  reduce  all  to  one  law.  The  history  of  philosophy 
has  proved,  a  thousand  times,  that  if  a  certain  number  of  facts 
are  in  perfect  accordance  with  the  new  system,  another  certain 
number  are  in  direct  opposition  to  it.  This,  according  to  our 
view,  is  one  of  the  consequences  of  our  finite  nature. 

We  are  not,  then,  surprised  that  M.  Baillarger  has  declared, 
in  an  interesting  pamphlet,  entitled  Hallucinations  ;  their 
Causes,  and  the  Diseases:  which  they  Characterize,  that  the  pro- 
duction of  hallucinations  is  particularly  favored  by  the  invo- 
luntary exercise  of  memory  and  imagination,  the  suspension  of 
external  impressions,  and  the  internal  excitation  of  sensorial 
organs;  or,  in  other  terms,  by  the  weakening,  relaxation,  and 
real  slackening  of  attention. 

It  is  evident  that  the  cases  cited  by  this  medical  observer 
support  his  opinion.  We  will  remark  that  hallucinations  pro- 
duced by  reveries,  dreams,  and  the  intermediate  state  between 
""  ^sleeping  and  waking,  have  another  origin  than  those  attributed 
by  us  to  intense  application  of  mind.  It  appears  to  us  equally 
positive  that  the  visions  of  the  famous  painter,  Sir  Joshua  Rey- 
nolds, were  caused  by  a  fatigued  brain. 

This  point  settled,  we  will  now  "show,  by  conclusive  facts,  that, 
in  a  great  many  cases,  attention  exerts  a  real  influence  on  the 
state  of  hallucination,  and  perfectly  explains  the  visions  and 
apparitions  of  many  renowned  personages. 

The  power  of  reproducing  hallucinations  by  an  effort  of  the 
will  has  been  described  by  numerous  observers. 

*  Conolly,  p.  119,  op.  cit. 


% 


HALLUCINATIONS  IN  A  RELIGIOUS  POINT  OF  VIEW.  309 

On  this  subject,  Jerome  Cardan  thus  expresses  himself; 
"Video  qua3  volo,  oculis,  non  vi  mentis."* 

One  of  the  most  curious  cases  of  this  nature  is  that  of  the 
painter  mentioned  in  the  early  part  of  this  work.  He  only 
needed  to  seek  in  his  brain  for  the  image  of  the  model  which  he 
wished  to  see,  than  it  was  reproduced  in  the  arm-chair,  with  all 
the  vividness  of  life.  Blake,  the  Seer,  conversed  tranquilly 
with  the  various  dead  who  came  to  visit  him,  and  described  to 
the  surprised  witnesses  their  costume,  physiognomy,  and  con- 
versation. Talma,  by  the  force  of  his  will,  metamorphosed  the 
spectators  of  his  immense  talent  into  skeletons. 

M.  Michéa  writes  as  follows:  "A  monomaniac  of  a  cultivated 
and  ardent  mind  instantaneously  converted  all  the  ideas  which 
passed  through  his  mind  into  false  visual  perceptions.  He  had  only 
to  imagine  a  thing  or  a  person,  when  it  immediately  assumed  a 
material  form.  One  day,"  said  M.  Michéa,  "we  found  him 
with  eyes  fixed,  a  smiling  mouth,  and  in  the  act  of  clapping  his 
hands  in  sign  of  applause.  He  did  not  hear  us  open  the  door 
of  his  room.  To  our  question  :  '  What  does  this  mean  ?  What 
are  you  doing?'  'I  am,'  he  replied,  'like  the  fool  that  Horace 
speaks  of  :  I  am  seeing  an  imaginary  play.  I  was  wearied  by 
my  fireside  ;  I  am  fond  of  the  beauties  of  the  opera,  and  have 
been  playing  to  myself  the  ballet  of  The  Sylphide  ;  and  when 
you  touched  me  on  the  shoulder,  I  was  applauding  Taglioni, 
with  whose  graceful  and  noble  dancing  I  had  never  before  been 
so  much  charmed."! 

A  young  man,  said  M.  Baudry,  was  much  engaged  in  pro- 
jects of  canal  constructing.  One  day,  after  having  deeply  con- 
centrated his  attention  on  this  subject,  he  marked  on  a  map  the 
line  of  a  canal  which  was  to  pass  through  his  country.  Sud- 
denly he  saw  a  pamphlet,  in  a  yellow  covering,  with  this  inscrip- 
tion :  Project  for  opening  a  Canal  through  the  Plain  of  Sologna 
(when  proofs  thus  are  read,  it  is  evident  what  is  passing  in  the 
mind)  ;  for  some  minutes,  he  read  in  it  ideas  which  confirmed 

*  De  Kerum  varletate,  Lugd.  t.  viii.  de  43,  p.  410.  See  also  Maisonneuve 
(Récherches  et  Observations  sur  I'Epilepsie,  p.  295).  This  author  speaks 
of  a  young  epileptic,  who  sometimes  amused  himself  by  wishing  to  see 
some  grotesque  object,  and  scarcely  did  his  imagination  form  it  than  it  was 
faithfully  pictured  to  his  eyes. 

t  Du  délire  des  Sensations,  p.  94.    Paris,  1846. 
24 


^ 


370  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

his  own;  the  fanciful  pamphlet  then  disappeared,  and  he  re- 
sumed his  ^York.* 

M.  Moreau,  of  Tours,  has  given  in  the  Cfazette  des  Hôpitaux, 
the  ease  of  one  of  his  patients  who  could  instantaneously  obtain 
hallucinations  of  sight  ;  to  effect  which,  he  had  only  to  incline 
his  head  a  little  forward.  A  very  learned  physician,  who  is  a 
fresh  example  to  us  of  the  truth  of  the  proverb:  'All  is  luck,  or 
ill  luck  in  this  world,'  relates  that,  being  a  prey  to  a  nervous 
affection,  which  however  left  him  the  free  exercise  of  his  facul- 
ties, he  became  subject  to  occasional  hallucinations  of  sight  ; 
but  he  perceived  that  they  came  when  his  mind  dwelt  on  them. 
Curious  to  study  this  singular  phenomenon,  he  several  times 
daguerreotyped,  as  it  were,  the  elements  of  his  thoughts.  They 
exhibited  themselves  to  him  in  all  the  colors  of  reality,  and 
remained  an  indefinite  time.  Having  remarked  that  the  con- 
stant repetition  of  these  hallucinations  caused  him  real  uneasi- 
ness, he  threw  them  off  by  an  energetic  effort  of  resolution. 

Dr.  M.  M.,  whose  intelligence  and  learning  none  can  dispute, 
in  referring  to  a  communication  on  hallucinations,  made  known 
to  the  Medical  Society  of  the  twelfth  arrondissement  (at  a  meet- 
ing of  the  6th  February,  1847)  that  he  could  invoke  hallucina- 
tions at  will.  At  first  the  object  was  confused,  like  a  cloud;  by 
degrees  it  became  more  decided,  and  terminated  in  a  very  dis- 
tinct apparition.  In  his  lectures  to  his  pupils,  he  could  never 
so  well  describe  the  parts  under  observation  as  when,  by  a  con- 
centration of  thought,  he  could  give  them  the  form  of  reality, 
and  make  them  subjective,  and  his  descriptions  have  much  less 
lucidity  when  they  are  not  thus  naturally  placed  before  him. 
He  can  easily  dispel  these  colored  impressions. 

To  these  different  facts  we  may  add  the  hallucinations  of 
ecstatics,  of  men  who  have  concentrated  their  thoughts  with 
great  intenseness  on  one  object  ;  they  are  then  evidently  medi- 
tation perfected  ;  and  to  suppose,  as  has  been  done,  that  in 
this  case  they  succeed  also  the  loss  of  attention,  is  certainly  to 
be  drawn  into  an  error  by  a  systematic  idea.  The  opinion  of 
Meister  on  the  intermediate  state  between  waking  and  sleep, 
establishes,  however,  a  very  important  distinction,  namely,  that 
this  state  may  be  the  occasion  of  deeds  of  the  greatest  conse- 

*  Baudry,  Essai  sur  les  Hallucinations,  Thèse,  Paris,  1833,  p.  17. 


HALLUCINATIONS  IN  A  RELIGIOUS  POINT  OF  VIEW.  371 

quence.  Let  us  add,  that  a  great  number  of  hallucinations  take 
place  as  well  in  the  day  as  during  the  night.  After  all,  if  the 
weakening  of  attention  be  favorable  to  hallucinations,  this  ex- 
planation cannot  apply  to  all  cases,  and  in  particular  to  halluci- 
nations compatible  with  reason. 

Tension  of  mind  may,  in  a  sphere  much  less  elevated,  and 
exercised  under  certain  conditions,  such  as  darkness,  the  silence 
of  night,  and  complete  solitude,  create  fantastic  figures,  and 
give  a  frightful  aspect  to  trifles.  We  have  already  called  atten- 
tion to  this  fact.  In  nervous  and  impressible  persons,  whom 
education  has  not  preserved  from  fearful  and  superstitious  ideas, 
the  brain  is  assailed  with  painful  conceptions,  which  occasion 
them  a  sentiment  of  fear,  sometimes  even  of  terror.  If,  in  this 
state,  the  eye  be  fixed  on  indecisive  forms,  instantly  the  phan- 
toms of  their  imagination  assume  a  bodily  shape,  and  are  trans- 
formed into  real  apparitions,  which  strike  them  with  terror. 
How  often,  in  the  flickering  light  of  a  fire  nearly  extinguished, 
have  we  seen  affinities  to  well-known  forms,  the  resemblance  to 
which  have  become  more  perfect  in  proportion  as  we  have  con- 
centrated attention  upon  them  !  There  is  no  doubt  that  the 
apparitions  of  persons  long  deceased  are  owing  to  this  disposition 
of  mind.  The  great  doctors  of  divinity  have  rejected  the  reality 
of  these  visions,  which  are  thus  explained  by  hallucinations. 

St.  Athanasius  maintains  that  when  souls  are  disincumbered 
of  their  tenement  of  clay,  they  have  no  more  communication  with 
mortals.  St.  Augustine  has  remarked  that  if  the  souls  of  the 
dead  could  visit  their  friends,  he  was  convinced  that  his  mother, 
who  had  followed  him  by  land  and  by  sea,  would  appear  to  tell 
him  what  she  had  learned  in  the  other  world,  and  to  give  him 
good  counsel. 

It  is  easy  to  believe  that  when  the  brain  is  in  this  condition, 
imagination  exerts  its  influence.  Hallucination  adopts,  in  most 
individuals,  the  impress  of  their  habitual  ideas,  and  also  rarely 
has  for  its  object  sensations  entirely  unknown  to  those  who  ex- 
perience them.  "  Imagination,"  says  Bernardin,  "  usually  gives 
to  them  forms  of  which  the  person  had  already  acquired  a  first 
idea,  either  by  reading,  tradition,  or  some  other  means.  In  some 
cases  hallucinations  are  the  exaggeration  of  the  faculty  which  cer- 
tain men  possess  of  representing  by  thought  images  seen  at  an 
anterior  period,  or  of  clothing  those  images  with  new  attributes. 


372  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

How  often,  in  fact,  do  we  think  we  are  hearing  a  melody  which 
has  impressed  us  agreeably  !* 

This  opinion  is  upheld  by  M.  Eusebe  Salverte.  "  Imagina- 
tion," says  he,  "combines  received  impressions,  but  creates  none. 
In  the  phantoms  of  sleep,  and  the  delirium  of  waking,  nothing 
is  presented  which  has  not  been  seen,  or  felt,  or  heard.  Terror, 
sadness,  inquietude,  and  preoccupation,  easily  produce  that  in- 
termediate state  between  sleeping  and  waking,  in  which  dreams 
become  real  visions.  Cassius  Parmensis,  proscribed  by  the 
triumvirs,  fell  asleep,  a  prey  to  fears  which  were  but  too  well 
justified  by  his  position.  A  man  of  frightful  aspect  appeared  to 
him,  telling  him  that  he  was  his  evil  genius.  Accustomed  to 
believe  in  superhuman  beings,  Cassius  doubted  not  the  reality  of 
the  apparition.  To  superstitious  minds,  such  a  vision  is  the 
presage  of  a  violent  death,  which  a  banished  man  could  not  long 
expect  to  avoid. 

An  analogous  explanation  will  apply  to  the  vision  of  Brutus 
on  the  eve  of  the  Battle  of  Philippi. 

Plutarch  relates  this  celebrated  apparition  as  follows  : — 

Case  CXLVII.  "Brutus  was  about  to  move  with  his  whole 
army.  One  dark  night,  having  only  a  small  lamp  in  his  tent, 
which  gave  but  a  feeble  light,  his  whole  army  being  wrapped  in 
silence  and  sleep,  he  was  plunged  in  deep  meditation,  a  thousand 
difierent  thoughts  revolving  in  his  brain,  when  suddenly  he 
heard  some  one  enter  his  tent.  Looking  towards  the  aperture, 
he  saw  a  monstrous  figure  with  a  horrible  countenance,  which 
approached  him,  and  stood  by  his  bedside,  without  speaking. 

"In  a  firm  voice  he  inquired:  'Who  art  thou?  Art  thou  a 
man?  Art  thou  a  god?  Wherefore  dost  thou  come  into  my 
tent,  and  what  wilt  thou?'  The  phantom  replied  :  'Brutus,  I 
am  thy  evil  genius,  and  thou  wilt  soon  see  me  on  the  plains  of 
Philippi.' — '  Well,'  replied  Brutus,  unmoved,  'then  we  shall 
meet  again  there;'  after  which  the  phantom  vanished.  Brutus 
then  called  his  attendants,  who  said  that  they  had  neither  seen 
nor  heard  anything. 

"When  the  day  broke,  he  sought  Cassius,  to  whom  he  related 
the  vision.     Then  Cassius,  who  was  a  disciple  of  the  doctrines 

*  Renaudin,  Considerations  sur  les  formes  de  l'Aliénation  Mentale  ob- 
servées à  Stephansfeld,  1841. 


HALLUCINATIONS  IN  A  RELIGIOUS  POINT  OF  VIEW.  373 

of  Epicurus,  replied  that  the  senses  were  deceitful,  and  that 
imagination  created  a  thousand  strange  and  hideous  phantoms. 
'Besides,'  said  he,  'your  body,  exhausted  and  heated  by  exer- 
tion, also  heats,  subtilizes,  and  perverts  your  imagination.  It  is 
not  possible  that  demons  and  genii  can  exist;  but  even  if  there 
were  such  beings,  it  is  absurd  to  suppose  that  they  would  assume 
the  appearance  and  the  voice  of  man.'  "* 

This  hallucination,  whatever  explanation  may  be  given  of  it, 
had  no  influence  on  the  conduct  of  Brutus;  his  acts  were  those 
of  a  superior  man,  and  no  one  can  accuse  him  of  madness. 

In  the  same  catalogue  we  would  place  the  dream  of  the  Em- 
peror Julian:  " On  the  night  before  his  death,''  says  Ammianus 
Marcellinus,  "a  genius  appeared  to  fly  from  him  in  consternation; 
it  was  the  genius  of  the  empire  ;  the  image,  which  everywhere 
met  his  sight  on  his  coin,  on  his  standard,  and  probably  also 
in  his  tent.  Disquieted  by  the  scarcity  which  distressed  his 
troops,  aware  that  a  religious  faith  contrary  to  his  own  existed 
in  the  heart  of  his  army,  and  incited  numerous  enemies  against 
him,  and  on  the  eve  of  a  decisive  battle,  is  it  surprising  that  the 
sleep  which  overpowered  him  should  be  disturbed  by  sinister 
dreams  ?  Is  it  surprising  that  the  enthusiastic  disciple  of  Theur- 
gic  philosophers,  whose  doctrine  ascribed  so  much  importance 
and  power  to  genii,  should  see  in  a  dream  the  genius  of  the 
empire  mourning,  and  ready  to  abandon  him,  and  should  believe 
in  its  reality? 

Hallucinations  do  not  alone  consist  in  the  reproduction  of 
ideas  habitual  to  individuals,  they  are  also  frequently  remini- 
scences, recollections  of  sensations  long  since  deposited  in  the 
brain,  and  recalled  by  the  well-known  law  of  association,  to 
which  a  physical  or  moral  cause  communicates  all  the  vivacity 
of  actual  sensations.  There  is  no  doubt  that  the  material  forms 
given  by  painters  and  sculptors  to  the  spirits  mentioned  in  the 

*  Daeier,  Vie  des  hommes  illustres  de  Plutarque,  pp.  610  to  612,  t.  vii. 
Paris,  1731.  In  a  note,  Dacier  says  :  "This  discourse  of  Cassius  is  both 
true  and  false,  for  undoubtedly  there  are  spirits;  but  it  is  with  the  appear- 
ance of  spirits  as  with  dreams,  there  are  both  false  and  true  ones  ;  some 
created  by  imagination,  some  sent  by  God."  At  the  distance  of  a  century, 
M.  Lélut  writes,  in  his  Amulette  de  Pascal  (p.  15)  :  "It  were  well  to  distin- 
guish, as  that  great  mystic  Gerson  recommends,  between  the  inspirations 
of  heaven  and  those  of  imagination." 


374  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

sacred  books — forms  so  generally  spread  abroad  in  works,  in 
religious  edifices,  pictures,  and  portraits — have  been  the  origin  of 
saints,  angels,  and  demons  as  seen  in  a  host  of  apparitions. 
It  is  therefore  not  surprising  that  when,  by  a  certain  organic 
disposition,  superstitious  or  unenlightened  persons  are  exposed 
to  hallucinations,  these  forms  should  be  their  subjects. 

Amongst  cases  which  prove  the  influence  of  association  in  the 
phenomenon  of  hallucinations,  we  will  relate  the  following: — 

Case  CXLVIII.  A  young  lady,  twenty-three  years  of  age,  of 
a  cultivated  mind,  an  agreeable  countenance,  and  apparently  of 
a  good  constitution,  confided  to  us,  one  day,  with  much  grief  and 
anxiety,  that  she  was  possessed  by  a  friglitful  impulse,  which 
she  was  fearful  she  could  not  resist.  On  being  interrogated  as 
to  the  origin  of  this  impulse,  she  said,  that  when  seven  years  old 
she  had  been  much  terrified  by  witnessing  a  person  in  an  epilep- 
tic fit;  that  at  seventeen,  she  heard  a  noise  which,  recalling  the  fit 
to  her  mind,  also  brought  back  the  fear  with  which  she  had  then 
been  seized,  and  the  terror  was  accompanied  by  some  hysteric 
symptoms  ;  that  twenty  days  before  consulting  us,  a  similar  noise 
occurring  in  the  street,  she  looked  out  and  saw  a  man  struck  with 
epilepsy;  that  ever  since,  the  hallucination  was  momentarily  pro- 
duced, even  when  she  was  alone  in  her  chamber;  that  this  image 
had  pursued  her  for  several  days,  notwithstanding  the  efforts  of 
her  reason,  still  sound,  but  sustained  with  difficulty.  Hysteric 
symptoms  accompanied  this  position,  and,  under  these  influences, 
the  frightful  impulse  arose,  against  which  she  wished  to  defend 
herself,  and  from  which  she  is  now  entirely  released.* 

Struck  with  the  play  of  mind  in  these  hallucinations,  some 
psychologists  have  attributed  them  to  memory,  some  to  imagina- 
tion. Reid  has  protested  strongly  against  both  these  opinions. 
"Imagination,"  says  he,  "brings  no  belief  in  its  train  ;  it  does  not 
contain  any  idea  of  existence  or  non-existence.  The  sensation 
which  I  experience  obliges  me  to  believe  in  its  actual  existence  ; 
the  recollection  of  that  sensation  produces  a  belief  in  its  past 
existence.  Such  is  the  nature  of  these  operations;  they  are 
simple  and  primitive  actions.  Now,  hallucination  differs  from 
both,  because  it  brings  with  it  the  idea  of  the  presence  of  an 

*  Cerise,  Des  Fonctions  et  des  Maladies  Nerveuses,  p.  489,  1  vol,  8vo. 
Paris,  1842. 


HALLUCINATIONS  IN  A  RELIGIOUS  POINT  OF  VIEW.  375 

object  which  does  not  exist.  It  is  certain  that  hallucination  can- 
not be  made  an  exclusive  phenomenon  of  the  imagination,  be- 
cause that  faculty  is  only  destined  to  receive  or  reproduce  images, 
nor  can  it  be  a  unique  phenomenon  of  memory,  because  there  is 
something  beside  reminiscence  in  hallucination.  But  if  opinions 
differ  as  to  the  employment  of  the  faculties  interested,  it  is  no 
less  certain  that  imagination  and  memory  are  the  principal  actors 
in  hallucinations. 

Some  have  wished  to  refer  dreams  and  somnambulism  in  noc- 
turnal hallucinations  exclusively  to  the  action  of  the  brain. 
There  are  no  longer,  say  they,  external  or  internal  impressions 
which  excite  or  provoke  it.  How,  then,  does  it  act?  Evidently 
by  a  kind  of  spontaneity.  It  is  impossible  for  us  to  admit  that 
these  intellectual  operations  are  executed  by  the  brain  alone. 
That  its  co-operation  is  indispensable  none  will  deny,  but  it  must 
be  aided  by  the  mind. 

The  influence  of  ideas  on  the  production  of  hallucinations, 
which  has  been  proved  by  observation,  demands  a  few  words  on 
the  creation  and  succession  of  false  ideas. 

It  is  admitted  as  a  principle  that  man  came  pure  and  free  from 
the  hands  of  his  Creator.  Had  truth  been  ever  his  guide,  use- 
ful and  indispensable  knowledge  would  alone  have  been  imparted; 
but  free  to  choose,  led  away  by  his  passions,  he  forgot  his  origin 
and  design,  and  thus,  in  the  abuse  of  liberty,  lost  the  knowledge 
of  God  and  of  himself. 

His  origin  and  end  no  longer  appearing  but  in  a  confused 
manner  to  his  mind,  imagination,  which  had  broken  the  chains 
that  bound  it  to  reason,  plunged  him  into  a  woi"ld  of  fables,  ab- 
surd beliefs,  singular  illusions,  and  strange  dreams.  One  epoch 
alone,  that  of  the  Middle  Ages,  affords  proof  with  what  facility 
these  fantastic  creations  and  marvellous  tales  were  multiplied. 
The  earth,  sky,  and  waters  were  then  made  the  habitations  of 
invisible  beings,  with  whom  every  one  considered  himself  in  con- 
nection. 

These  erroneous  persuasions,  once  asserted  by  a  few  enthu- 
siasts, were  quickly  imbibed  by  those  around,  over  whom  they 
exercised  a  guiding  power.  Then  disseminated  by  that  multi- 
tude, eager  for  the  marvellous,  who  love  better  to  believe  than 
to  examine,  they  were  repeated,  systematized,  and  introduced 
into  the  mind  with  the  first  rudiments  of  education.     These 


376  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

errors,  thus  circulated,  were  accepted  as  truths;  and  the  materials 
for  social  hallucinations  were  prepared,  which  were  afterwards 
destined  to  attack  individuals. 

The  origin,  then,  of  hallucinations  must  be  sought  for  in  the 
forgetfulness  of  two  grand  laws  which  govern  man  :  the  know- 
ledge of  God  and  of  self  ;  whence  flows  the  instinctive  percep- 
tion of  the  unknown,  the  desire  to  believe,  the  love  of  the  mar- 
vellous, the  ardor  for  knowledge,  and  the  thirst  of  the  emotions. 

A  critic,  now  in  exile,  politely  rallied  us  on  having  attributed 
a  like  origin  to  hallucination.  We  difi"er  too  entirely  ever  to 
agree  on  this  point.  We  will  limit  ourselves  to  one  observa- 
tion. In  perusing  his  article,  in  the  most  highly  esteemed 
literary  journal  of  the  day,  we  gained  no  instruction,  neither 
was  the  least  light  thrown  upon  the  subject,  for  the  very  simple 
reason  that  the  author  treated  it  as  a  scholar,  not  as  a  practical 
man.  We  are  firmly  convinced  that,  even  setting  aside  religious 
doctrines,  we  have  analyzed  and  made  known,  as  clearly  as 
possible,  the  causes  of  hallucination;  such  at  least  is  the  opi- 
nion of  one  of  the  greatest  writers  of  the  day,  the  celebrated 
George  Sand.* 

Wandering  reason,  deserting  the  path  of  sound  philosophy, 
left  the  field  free  to  imagination,  which  delights  in  paradoxes, 
dreams,  and  chimeras.  She,  mistress  of  the  ground,  brought 
forth  those  numerous  false  conceptions  which  served  as  food  for 
fresh  generations,  and  were  the  first  elements  of  those  strange 
mental  aberrations  of  which  we  now  treat. 

This  connection  between  social  errors,  false  opinions,  imagi- 
nary creations,  and  hallucinations,  is  susceptible  of  a  great 
development  ;  but  we  must  be  content  to  glance  at  it.  Etiology 
has,  however,  established  it  on  indubitable  proofs.f 

We  have  endeavored,  as  much  as  possible,  to  estimate  the 

*  George  Sand,  Les  Visions  de  la  Nuit  dans  les  Campagnes,  Illustration, 
13  Décembre,  1851,  p.  371. 

tThe  influence  of  false  ideas  on  hallucinations  in  particular,  and  insan- 
ity in  general,  has  long  fixed  our  attention.  We  have  made  it  the  subject 
of  a  special  paragraph  in  the  ninth  volume  of  the  Bibliothèque  des  Médecins 
praticiens  [Maladies  mentales,  causes  7norales).  This  slight  sketch,  the  ori- 
ginal idea  of  which  may  be  found  in  our  Mémoires  de  V influence  de  la  civil- 
isation sur  le  Décclopijcnient  de  ce  sujet,  vcill  be  the  subject  for  a  more  com- 
plete work. 


HALLUCINATIONS  IN  A  RELIGIOUS  POINT  OF  VIEW.  377 

psychological  phenomena  which  unite  to  produce  hallucination. 
If  this  study  has  made  the  same  impression  on  the  mind  of  the 
reader  as  it  has  on  our  own,  he  will  have  arrived  at  this  conclu- 
sion; that,  in  many  cases,  hallucination  is  nothing  extraordinary, 
and  may  be  considered  almost  as  a  normal  phenomenon  ;  that 
it  is  consistent  with  reason  ;  whence  it  is  easy  to  conceive  how 
many  celebrated  men  may  have  been  hallucinists,  under  the 
influences  described,  without  being  at  all  insane. 

In  order  thoroughly  to  understand  the  coexistence  of  halluci- 
nations with  reason,  we  will  review  two  orders  of  facts,  the  one 
relating  to  assemblages  of  persons,  the  other  peculiar  to  cele- 
brated characters,  both  drawn  from  history.  The  materials  are 
so  numerous  that  we  shall  find  it  diflBcult  to  make  a  selection. 
In  order  to  avoid  multiplying  quotations,  we  will  confine  our- 
selves to  one  period — that  of  the  Crusades.  Few  episodes  offer 
so  much  interest  in  connection  with  the  subject  that  engages  us  ; 
it  may  be  called  a  perpetual  mirage.  Kings,  generals,  and  sol- 
diers, were  the  daily  witnesses  of  apparitions. 

First  Order. — Historical  hallucinations  relating  to  a  multi- 
tude of  persons. — Peter  the  Hermit,  the  glorious  deliverer  of  Je- 
rusalem, disgusted  with  men  and  the  world,  withdrew  from  them, 
to  dwell  amidst  the  most  austere  Cénobites.  Fastings,  prayer, 
and  meditation  excited  his  imagination.  With  the  fervor  of  an 
apostle,  and  the  courage  of  a  martyr,  his  zeal  acknowledged  no 
obstacle,  and  all  that  he  desired  seemed  easy.  Nothing  could 
resist  the  force  of  his  eloquence,  nor  the  fascination  of  his  exam- 
ple. Such  was  the  extraordinary  man  who  gave  the  signal  for 
•the  crusades;  and  who,  without  fortune  or  fame,  succeeded,  by 
the  sole  ascendency  of  his  tears  and  prayers,  in  arousing  the 
whole  of  the  West,  that  it  might  precipitate  itself  on  the  East. 
With  such  dispositions  of  mind,  full  of  his  project,  in  the  midst 
of  the  religious  atmosphere  in  which  he  lived,  is  it  surprising 
that  his  thoughts  became  imaged,  that  he  maintained  an  habitual 
intercourse  with  heaven,  and  believed  himself  the  instrument  of 
its  designs,  and  the  depository  of  its  will  ? 

"In  fact,  Christianity,"  as  Michaud  remarks,  "was  mixed 
up,  in  the  Middle  Ages,  with  all  civil  law,  recalled  man  to  a 
sense  of  the  duty  he  owed  his  country,  and  was  blended  in 
all  the  principles  of  social  order.  In  the  midst  of  the  growing 
civilization  of  Europe,  the  Christian  religion  was  united  with  all 


378  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

the  interests  of  the  people  ;  it  was  in  some  measure  the  founda- 
tion of  society  ;  it  was  society  itself.  It  is  not,  therefore,  sur- 
prising that  men  grew  passionately  interested  in  its  defence. 
The  bonds  of  a  Universal  Church  long  contributed  thus  power- 
fully to  entertain  and  favor  enthusiasm,  and  the  progress  of  the 
Holy  wars.  Whatever  cause  may  have  originated  the  crusades, 
it  is  certain  that  they  never  could  have  been  undertaken  with- 
out that  union  of  religious  feeling  which  doubled  the  strength 
of  Christianity.  The  people,  by  the  accordance  of  their  senti- 
ments and  passions,  showed  to  the  world  what  could  be  accom- 
plished by  zeal  and  enthusiasm,  which  increases  with  communi- 
cation, by  a  belief  which  attracted  a  hundred  different  nations 
towards  the  same  object,  and  whose  faith  could,  as  it  is 
expressed  in  the  gospel,  move  mountains. 

Everything  then  concurred  to  favor  the  production  of  halluci- 
nations ;  religious  sentiment,  love  of  the  marvellous,  ignorance, 
anarchy,  and  the  fear  so  recently  entertained  that  the  Avorld  was 
near  to  its  close.  Men  were  anticipating  some  great  event,  and 
were  ready  to  welcome  it  with  the  more  ardor  because  it  suited 
the  state  of  their  minds.  The  voice  of  Peter  the  Hermit  pro- 
duced an  electrifying  sensation;  the  deliverance  of  the  Holy 
Land  became  the  universal  object.  The  very  word  East  pos- 
sessed a  magic  which  inflamed  all  imaginations  ;  it  was  the  land 
where  all  the  prodigies  of  the  Old  Testament  Avere  performed, 
the  miracles  of  the  New,  and  from  Avhence  still  issued  a  thousand 
fabulous  histories. 

The  signal  for  the  first  crusade  was  hardly  given,  before 
apparitions  commenced  ;  every  one  related  his  visions,  the 
words  he  had  heard,  the  commands  he  had  received.  To  the 
eyes  of  the  people  and  soldiery,  the  air  was  filled  with  signs. 
But  it  was  principally  when  the  crusaders  had  penetrated  into 
Asia  that  prodigies  were  multiplied. 

At  the  battle  of  Dorylœum,  Saint  George  and  Saint  Demetrius 
were  seen  fighting  in  the  ranks.*  In  the  midst  of  the  melee  at 
Antioch,  a  celestial  troop,  armed  and  led  by  the  martyrs.  Saint 
George,  Saint  Demetrius,  and  Saint  Theodore,  descended  to 
earth. t 

*  Michaud,  Histoire  des  Croisades,  6th  edition,  vol.  i.  p.  178. 
f  Ibid.  vol.  i.  p.  27G. 


HALLUCINATIONS  IN  A  RELIGIOUS  POINT  OF  VIEW.  379 

During  the  hottest  of  the  fight,  at  the  siege  of  Jerusalem, 
Godfrey  and  Raymond  perceived  a  knight  waving  a  buckler  on 
the  Mount  of  Olives,  and  giving  a  signal  to  the  Christian  army 
to  enter  the  town.  They  cried  out  that  Saint  George  had  come 
to  the  succor  of  the  Christians.  Meanwhile,  it  was  noised 
abroad  in  the  army  that  Pope  Adhemar  and  several  other  cru- 
saders, who  had  fallen  during  the  siege,  had  appeared  at  the 
head  of  the  assailants  and  planted  the  standard  of  the  Cross  on 
the  towers  of  Jerusalem.  Tancred  and  the  two  Roberts,  en- 
couraged by  this  account,  made  renewed  eiforts  and  forced  an 
entrance  into  the  place.* 

"  On  the  day  on  which  Saladin  entered  the  holy  city,"  says 
Rigord,  "  the  monks  of  Argenteuil  had  seen  the  moon  descend 
to  the  earth,  and  return  again  into  heaven.  In  several  churches 
the  crucifix  and  images  of  saints  had  been  observed  to  shed 
tears  of  blood  in  presence  of  the  faithful.  A  Christian  knight 
had,  in  a  dream,  seen  an  eagle  holding  seven  javelins  in  his  ta- 
lons, and  soaring  over  Jerusalem  uttering  in  a  piercing  accent, 
'  Woe  to  Jerusalem  !'  " 

During  the  siege  of  Damietta,  the  Egyptian  captives  being 
conducted  before  the  assembled  princes  and  chiefs,  related  pro- 
digies of  Christian  bravery,  and  desired  to  see  the  men  clothed 
in  white,  with  white  armor,  whom  they  had  seen  fighting  before 
the  tower  was  taken.  The  warriors  who  had  vanquished  them 
were  pointed  out  ;  but  they  did  not  recognize  in  them  that  ter- 
rible aspect  and  celestial  strength,  the  remembrance  of  which 
filled  them  with  terror.  It  was  then,  said  an  eye-witness,  "  the 
pilgrims  understood  that  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  had  sent  his 
angels  to  attack  the  tower. "f 

These  quotations,  selected  from  many  others  by  the  same 
author,  prove,  in  the  most  positive  manner,  that  hallucinations 
may  attack  a  great  number  of  persons  without  their  being  sus- 
pected of  insanity.  This  phenomenon  is  explained  by  a  combi- 
nation of  circumstances  on  which  we  have  already  dwelt. 

We  Vtnll  proceed  to  exhibit  this  fact  equally  in  the  particular 
cases,  which  will  serve  us  in  the  study  of  the  hallucinations  of 
celebrated  men. 

*  Michaud,  Histoire  des  Croisades,  vol.  i.  pp.  333-340. 
t  Michaud,  op.  cit.  vol.  iii.  p.  318. 


380  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

Second  Order.  —  Historical  individual  hallucinations. — 
Loyola  being  dangerously  wounded  at  the  siege  of  Pampeluna, 
and  obliged  to  remain  inactive,  turned  his  thoughts  towards 
religion,  which  he  had  always  held  in  veneration.  Distant  re- 
ports of  the  revolt  of  Wurtemberg  reached  him  in  his  retreat  ; 
his  mind  instantly  compassed  all  the  consequences  which  would 
result,  and  he  then  was  inspired  with  the  project  of  that  insti- 
tution which  was  to  render  such  eminent  service  to  religion. 
Full  of  an  idea,  the  realization  of  which  was  to  establish  the 
papal  throne,  now  so  shaken,  and  Catholicism,  so  vigorously 
attacked,  he  prepared  for  battle.  In  contemplation  of  that  im- 
mense struggle,  all  the  difficulties  of  which  he  foresaw,  his  mind 
would  naturally  acquire  the  highest  degree  of  energy  and  ten- 
sion, the  most  favorable  state  for  the  transformation  of  ideas 
into  sensible  signs  or  images.  Moreover,  let  it  not  be  forgotten, 
that  it  was  in  the  beginning  of  the  sixteenth  century,  and  in 
Spain,  where  nothing  was  more  usual  than  lonely  excitation,  the 
concentration  of  all  the  faculties  on  one  single  point,  of  all  the 
forces  of  the  mind  on  one  thought. 

It  was  at  this  period  of  his  life,  according  to  historians,  that 
lie  experienced  visions  and  ecstasy.  He  saw  the  Virgin,  who 
encouraged  his  projects  and  the  mission  which  he  proposed  ;  and 
he  heard  celestial  voices.  These  hallucinations,  admitting  them 
scientifically  to  be  such,  were  only  the  highest  expression  of  his 
meditations,  the  result  of  profound  convictions  which  formed  the 
distinctive  trait  of  the  period.  The  thought  which  entirely 
occupied  him,  took  a  material  and  living  form,  and,  as  Shak- 
speare  beautifully  says,  he  saw  it  "in  his  mind's  eye,"  but  there 
was  no  touch  of  madness. 

In  this  case,  the  leading  idea,  instead  of  being  intercerebral, 
became  external  ;  it  placed  itself  before  him  palpably,  and  pre- 
ceded him  in  all  his  enterprises.  But  with  him,  as  with  many 
"celebrated  personages,  hallucination  was  but  the  auxiliary  of  a 
primary  conception. 

In  making  a  critical  examination  of  any  illustrious  character, 
the  age  in  which  he  lived  must  always  be  taken  into  considera- 
tion. If  we  place  ourselves,  for  a  moment,  in  the  sixteenth 
century,  in  the  midst  of  the  citizens  and  populace  of  Spain,  ar- 
dent, credulous,  deeply  animated  with  enthusiasm  and  a  gloomy 
faith  ;  then  visions,  spectres,  oracles,  and  all  supernatural  things 


HALLUCINATIONS  IN  A  RELIGIOUS  POINT  OF  VIEW.  381 

are  true,  simple,  and  of  daily  occurrence.  A  phantom  seen  in 
the  graveyard,  or  a  saint  in  the  street,  would  excite  no  surprise. 
The  privations  to  which  Loyola  subjected  himself,  gave  rise 
to  other  hallucinations.  Thus  he  relates  that  a  fiery  serpent 
appeared  afar  ofiF,  came  nearer  and  nearer,  fascinated  him  with 
its  eyes,  then  left  him  plunged  in  darkness.  But  this  vision, 
brought  on  by  fasting,  continual  prayer,  and  loss  of  sleep,  belongs 
to  those  induced  by  sickness,  and  does  not  indicate  insanity.  It 
was  one  of  the  thousand  trials  through  which  the  faithful  must 
pass.  Perhaps  it  was  also  a  warning,  to  guard  him  against 
attempting  sacrifices  too  great  for  human  nature  !  Thus  a 
prolonged  series  of  scruples,  temptations,  and  discouragements 
conducted  Loyola  to  the  portals  of  the  tomb.  "  He  desired," 
says  the  Protestant,  author  of  the  article  in  the  British  Review, 
from  whom  we  have  borrowed  part  of  these  details,  "  to  die  of 
hunger  ;  his  ecstasies  increased.  The  idea  of  suicide  germinates, 
develops,  and  strengthens  in  his  thoughts,  and  finally  quite 
absorbs  him.  Thus,"  continues  the  same  author,  "  that  being 
would  have  had  a  miserable  end,  whose  fame  was  destined  to 
resound  through  the  world,  if  the  voice  of  a  confessor  had  not 
rescued  him  from  his  sufferings,  and  made  this  voluntary  death 
a  case  of  conscience.  When  his  debilitated  body  was,  as  it  were, 
resuscitated,  a  revolution  occurred  within  him.  A  sudden  luci- 
dity succeeded  the  state  of  dejection,  concentration,  and  weak- 
ness in  which  he  had  been  plunged  ;  then  he  saw,  in  all  its 
bearings,  the  plan  of  the  boldest  structure  that  man  ever  con- 
ceived." 

.  There  is  something  striking  in  contemplating  the  founder  of 
so  famous  an  order,  and  a  saint  canonized  by  the  Church,  on 
the  very  brink  of  suicide  ;  but  those  who  have  severely  cen- 
sured the  fact,  have  forgotten  the  double  nature  of  man,  that 
duality  against  which  so  many  fine  minds  have  vainly  striven,* 
and  which  is  now  more  active  than  in  the  days  of  Plato. 
Read  the  lives  of  celebrated  men,  penetrate  the  secrets  of  those 
mysterious  years,  when  the  terrible  struggle  commenced  in 
which  the  greater  number  found  misery  and  death,  and  but  few 
fortune  and  glory,  and  what  do  you  see?  long  alternations  of  joy 

*  A.  Brierre  de  Boismont,  De  la  Dualité  humaine  {Union  Médicale). 
1851. 


382  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

and  grief,  of  hope  and  disappointment,  and,  above  all,  that 
melancholy  time  when  suicide,  frequently  conjured  up,  stands 
face  to  face  with  future  renown,  waiting  only  one  final  signal  to 
plunge  the  victim  into  the  gulf  of  forgetfulness. 

We  may  affirm,  without  fear  of  being  mistaken,  that  there  is 
no  man  of  genius  who  has  not  experienced  this  temptation.  It 
is  because  there  exists  in  every  illustrious  person,  as  a  modern 
writer  has  well  said,  a  history  and  a  biography  ;  his  history 
exhibits  his  spiritual  part — what  he  possesses  of  grandeur  and 
power,  a  free  nature,  a  life  useful,  and  belonging  to  all  ;  in  his 
biography,  he  is  a  man  like  the  rest  of  the  world;  he  descends 
to  infirmities,  he  requires  repose.  Amongst  the  most  glorious 
names  of  history,  the  heroes  and  great  representatives  of  the 
past,  do  we  know  one,  who  could  stand  the  test  of  a  secret 
chronicle,  who  did  not  sometimes  tremble  in  the  depths  of  his 
soul  ;  who  did  not  fall  in  those  moments,  when  human  nature 
sinks,  when  the  most  robust  and  the  strongest  faint  ?  To  write 
a  biography  only,  is  to  deceive  or  to  be  deceived  ;  to  mutilate 
the  masterpiece  with  a  sure  blow,  and  reduce  it  to  nothing.* 

The  hallucinations  of  Loyola,  then,  were  those  of  his  age  ; 
his  sufferings  gave  them  more  intensity  ;  but,  like  those  of  many 
other  celebrated  persons,  they  did  not  influence  his  reason. 
What  places  this  fact  beyond  doubt,  is  the  evidence  of  that  cool- 
ness of  judgment  in  one  of  such  ascetic  habits,  that  extreme 
talent  which  exhibits  itself  in  his  plans  and  writings.  When 
we  see  that  sublime  intellect  seating  himself,  at  forty  years  of 
age,  on  the  benches  of  the  Montague  College  in  Paris,  to  learn 
Latin,  wc  cannot  fail  to  admire  his  strength  of  mind  and 
unfailing  moral  energy. 

Is  it  possible  to  believe  that  the  creation  of  that  order  which 
gave  a  counterpoise  to  Protestantism,  of  that  secret  militia 
which  mingled  in  all  classes,  associated  with  all  professions,  at 
once  religious  and  lay,  and  less  occupied  with  devotional  rites 
than  with  works  really  useful  to  Catholicism,  should  have  ema- 
nated from  a  diseased  brain  ?  Does  it  not,  on  the  contrary, 
prove  that  it  originated  from  the  very  attack  of  the  Augustine 
monk  ?  History  contains  more  than  one  example  of  this  antag- 
onism of  one  power  against  another,  of  a  will  which  devotes  itself 

*  See  our  paper  on  "  Ennui,"  {Annal.  Psych.)  Oct.  1850. 


HALLUCINATIONS  IN  A  RELIGIOUS  POINT  OF  VIEW.  383 

to  conquer  another  will.  Amongst  cases  of  this  nature,  none 
possess  more  interest  than  that  of  Joan  of  Arc.  When  evil 
appears  on  the  earth  under  a  new  form,  we  may  feel  assured 
that  good  will  react  with  still  greater  strength.  It  is  then  impos- 
sible for  us  to  admit  that  the  cell  of  a  visionary  soldier  was  the 
focus  of  this  wonder.  Such  an  explanation,  although  supported 
by  science,  appears  to  us  contrary  to  the  dignity  of  man.  To 
transform  philosophers,  reformers,  founders  of  religion,  and  crea- 
tive spirits  into  so  many  hallucinated  madmen,  is  to  offer  the 
most  cruel  insult  to  human  nature.  All  who  work  on  with  strong 
resolution,  all  inventors,  all  creative  minds  may  be  looked  upon 
as  centres  of  light;  the  brilliant  results  must  give  birth  to  the 
most  varied  phenomena  ;  but  reason  no  less  continues  her  opera- 
tions ;  and  what  appears  to  depart  from  the  normal  type  is 
but  the  gangue,  the  reflex,  the  sparkle  of  the  work  of  produc- 
tion. 

It  is  not  for  us  to  examine  Luther  in  a  religious  point  of  view  ; 
that  task  has  been  gloriously  performed  by  others.  But  we 
cannot  but  recognize  in  him  one  of  the  most  vigorous  natures 
that  ever  existed.  What  force  of  will,  what  power  of  argument, 
how  closely  are  all  parts  of  his  work  united!  With  what  per- 
severance he  pursues  the  plan  he  has  traced  out  !  How  he 
repulses  the  attacks  of  his  enemies  ! 

Always  in  the  breach,  he  dies  after  having  seen  the  doctrine 
of  free  discussion  triumphant.  And  yet,  the  father  of  Eeform, 
he  whose  name  is  still  pronounced  with  veneration  by  thousands, 
must  be  ruthlessly  ranked  amongst  madmen,  since,  he  had 
numerous  interviews  with  the  devil.  It  is  in  vain  that  the 
preacher  Claude  denies  it — in  vain  that  a  modern  author  pre- 
tends that  the  devil  is  subtlety  or  the  evil  will,  pride,  or  indi- 
viduality ;  the  facts  are  authentic,  and  Luther  shall  bear  witness 
for  himself. 

Conference  with  the  Devil  in  152L — "It  once  happened," 
said  he,  "  that  I  suddenly  awoke  at  midnight,  and  Sata_n_com- 
menced  disputing  with  me."  The  conference  turned  entirely 
on  the  mass,  which  the  devil  reproached  him  with  having  only 
said  for  himself  alone.  It  is  but  a  reproduction  of  the  argu- 
ments of  Luther  against  that  sacrament,  and  there  is  no  doubt 
but  that  the  Reformer,  whose  days  and  nights  were  employed 
in  the  accomplishment  of  his  work,  saw  on  this  occasion  his 


884  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

thoughts  imaged  ;  like  all,  who,  being  strongly  preoccupied  with 
a  subject,  perceive  it  distinctly  before  them  and  take  it  for 
reality,  until  the  exclusive  tension  of  mind  ceases  and  they  re- 
enter the  actual  world.  The  replies  of  Luther  to  the  devil  are 
generally  feeble  ;  and  it  appears  to  M.  Audin,  impossible  that 
Luther  could  have  been  awake  when  the  devil  appeared  to  him. 

It  is  a  curious  historical  fact,  that  it  was  before  this  vision 
that  the  sacrifice  of  the  mass  fell  ;  and  that  the  Protestants,  in 
ridicule  of  the  ceremony,  have  since  referred  our  priests  to  the 
testimony  of  Satan. 

The  Sacramentarians,  like  Parous,  bring  forward  this  appari- 
tion to  convince  the  Lutherans  and  Calvinists,  that,  if  the  devil 
showed  himself  to  the  Reformer  in  order  to  reveal  to  him  the 
idolatry  concealed  in  the  celebration  of  the  mass,  an  angel  also 
appeared  to  Zuingle,  to  teach  him  the  real  sense  of  the  words 
used  in  the  Lord's  Supper.  Luther  ridiculed  this  vision,  to  the 
great  scandal  of  the  Zuinglians,  who  did  not  deny  their  faith  in 
his  colloquy  with  Satan. 

"  Do  you  know,"  inquired  Luther,  "  why  the  Sacramentarians, 
Zuingle,  Bucer,  and  Œcolampadius,  have  never  understood  the 
sacred  writings  ?  Because  they  have  not  had  the  devil  for  an 
adversary  ;  for  we  are  but  poor  theologians  if  we  have  not  the 
devil  tied  round  our  necks." 

A  writer,  M.  Claude,  who  often  had  the  honor  to  dispute  with 
Bossuet,  sees  nothing  in  this  conference  but  a  parable,  a  kind  of 
myth  imagined  by  Luther  ;  who  was  fed,  he  says,  on  the  writings 
of  the  monks,  in  which  the  tempter  so  often  appears  in  a  mate- 
rial form.  Satan,  instead  of  being  a  reality,  would  only  per- 
sonify a  philosophic  abstraction  representing  the  clamor  of  evil 
passions. 

Luther  himself  has  given  a  denial  to  Claude  ;  for,  in  his 
treatise  on  Misscî  Privatâ,  in  which  the  vision  is  described,  after 
having  exalted  the  power  of  Satan,  who  will  never  allow  long 
conferences,  he  says:  "This  explains,  why  men  are  sometimes 
found  dead  in  their  beds  ;  they  are  strangled  by  Satan.  Emser, 
Œcolampadius,  and  others,  who  fell  into  the  clutches  of  the  evil 
spirit,  died  as  suddenly."  Hospinian  believes  that  Emser  actu- 
ally died  the  diabolic  death  stated  by  Luther  ;  but  he  cannot 
give  up  Œcolampadius  to  the  fiend,  "an  evangelist  of  so  holy 
and  pure  a  life,  who,  according  to  Bèze,  after  a  gentle  death 


HALLUCINATIONS  IN  A  RELIGIOUS  POINT  OF  VIEW.  385 

■went  to  rejoin  his  brother,  Zuingle,  the  pastor  of  Eisendeln, 
■who  said  that  Luther  was  not  only  possessed  by  one  bad 
spirit,  but,  like  a  stronghold,  was  occupied  by  a  whole  legion  of 
devils."* 

Why  should  we  speak  of  the  bag  of  nuts  removed  by  the 
devil,  his  transformation  into  a  fly,  how  he  hung  on  the  neck  of 
'the  monk,  the  frequent  visits  he  paid  to  him,  when  in  bed,  where 
he  lay  closer  to  the  Reformer  than  even  his  Catherine? 

Certainly,  viewing  the  matter  in  a  scientific  light,  Luther  is 
accused  and  convicted  of  hallucinations;  but  was  he  insane? 
We  must  answer  in  the  negative.  At  the  period  of  the  Reform- 
ation, Satan  had  "immense  power;  he  figured  in  creeds,  books, 
pictures,  sculptures,  conversations,  vigils.  All  evil  was  attri- 
buted to  him.  He  drew  in  his  train  an  innumerable  company 
of  magicians  and  sorcerers.f  He  trafficked  publicly  in  souls  ;  and 
reports  were  abroad,  from  one  end  of  Europe  to  the  other,  of 
the  removal  and  violent  deaths  of  those  who  made  compacts  with 
this  terrible  master.  The  ideas  of  Luther,  exalted  by  continual 
controversy,  by  the  danger  of  his  position,  and  by  the  thunders 
of  the  Church,  and  unceasingly  revolving  in  a  religious  circle, 
would  naturally  feel  the  influence  of  the  demon,  who  seemed  to 
pervade  all  things;  to  whom  he  attributed  every  obstacle  which 

*  Audin,  Histoire  de  la  vie,  des  ouvrages  et  des  doctrines  de  Luther. 
Paris,  1842,  p.  132  to  145. 

f  M.  Ozanam,  Professor  in  the  Sorbonne,  in  a  very  remarkable  lecture, 
developed  the  idea  that  paganism  was  in  full  force  when  Christianity- 
appeared.  He  remarked  that  if,  towards  the  commencement  of  the  fifth 
century,  it  ceased  to  exist  as  the  religion  of  the  State,  the  traces  of  the 
spirit  with  which  it  was  animated  were  found  in  the  Middle  Ages,  and 
even  up  to  our  own  times.  He  sees  the  traces,  and  the  persisting  life, 
of  paganism  under  Charles  Martel,  when  the  peasantry  strove  to  replace 
the  idols;  notes  it  in  the  teachings  of  a  false  philosophy;  in  those,  for 
example,  of  Scot-Erigéne,  who,  in  the  tenth  century,  revived  the  ideas  of 
Plotin,  or  something  approaching  to  them;  in  the  grotesque  and  immoral 
feasts  of  the  Middle  Ages  ;  in  the  heresies  of  the  Albigeuses  ;  in  the 
occult  sciences,  whose  origin,  he  says,  as  well  as  the  manner,  frequently 
terrible,  of  their  suppression,  must  not  be  traced  to  the  darkness  of  the 
Middle  Ages,  but  to  the  old  superstitions  of  pagan  antiquity.  If  in  the 
Middle  Ages,  sorcerers  and  magicians  were  burned  alive,  the  cruelty  must 
not  be  attributed  to  the  Christian  Church,  but  to  the  remains  of  paganism, 
which  still  burrowed  in  the  heart  of  society. 

25 


386  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

he  encountered,  and  whom,  in  common  with  all  men  of  his  time, 
he  believed  to  interfere  in  every  human  event. 

Hallucinations  were,  so  to  speak,  in  the  Avhole  social  commu- 
nity, not  in  individuals.  This  character  of  generality,  observ- 
able in  the  follies  of  the  Middle  Ages,  resulted,  doubtless,  from 
the  fact  that  men  were  absorbed  in  them,  whilst  free  discussion 
would,  of  necessity,  cause  individuality  to  triumph.  Thus,  in 
our  days,  when  personality  has  reached  its  highest  point,  general 
follies  have  almost  entirely  disappeared,  and  have  been  replaced 
by  alienations  peculiar  to  each  person. 

This  passage  was  written  before  the  revolutions  which  suc- 
ceeded the  2-lth  of  February,  1848.  The  notice  that  we  pub- 
lished inX'  Union  ATédicale  (20th  July,  1848),  on  the  Influence 
des  derniers  Evénements,  proves  that  social  derangements  are 
not  so  far  removed  from  our  midst  as  we  had  imagined  ;  and  that 
the  circles  of  passion  in  which  we  move,  are,  with  some  modifi- 
cations, always  derived  from  the  same  source.* 

Thus,  admitting  the  fact  of  Luther's  hallucinations,  we  would 
say  that  they  had  no  power  over  his  reason  ;  that  they  were 
produced  by  the  superstitious  beliefs  of  the  time,  and  by  his 
tension  of  mind,  and  that  they  should  only  be  looked  upon  as 
the  pictured  reflex  of  his  thoughts. 

To  the  cases  already  cited,  we  feel  we  should  certainly  add 
that  of  the  heroine  to  whom  France  owes  the  expulsion  of  the 
foreigner. 

"There  is  no  episode  in  our  annals,"  says  M.  Buchon,  "which 
excites  so  much  admiration  and  interest  as  the  brief  history  of 
the  arrival  of  Joan  of  Arc  in  the  French  camp,  her  exploits,  her 
virtue,  and  her  execution.  So  extraordinary  an  event  has  given 
rise  to  the  most  varied  conjectures.  Some,  partaking  of  the 
ideas  of  the  times,  have  thought  her  to  be  really  inspired  with 
supernatural  light;  others  have  regarded  her  enthusiasm  as  the 
effect  of  highly- wrought  feelings  of  patriotism  and  religion  ; 
others,  again,  have  made  her  the  agent  or  the  dupe  of  a  vast 
and  profound  intrigue  organized  by  the  ministers  of  the  court 
of  Charles  the  Seventh,  f 

*  See  also  our  Analysis  of  La  Maladie   Démocratique,  Annal.   Medic. 
Psycho.  1850. 
t  Buchon,  Analyse  raisonnée   des   Documents  sur  la  Pucelle,  p.  19G 


HALLUCINATIONS  IN  A  RELIGIOUS  POINT  OF  VIEW.  387 

Who,  then,  was  the  Maid  of  Orleans  ?  A  young  peasant, 
eighteen  or  nineteen  years  of  age,  tall  and  of  a  noble  figure,  a 
countenance  mild,  but  proud,  a  character  remarkable  for  its 
union  of  candor  and  strength,  modesty  and  authority,  and  finally 
of  a  conduct  which  was  the  admiration  of  all  who  knew  her. 
From  the  earliest  stage  of  her  warlike  career,  she  became  the 
perfect  model  of  a  Christian  knight.  Intrepid,  indefatigable, 
sober,  pious,  modest  ;  skilful  in  subduing  horses,  and  versed  in 
all  parts  of  the  science  of  arms,  everything  in  her  life  points 
her  out  as  a  being  highly  inspired,  and  bears  the  stamp  of 
divine  authority.*  At  the  early  age  of  eighteen,  her  mission 
was  fulfilled  ;  and  nothing  remained  for  her  but  the  crown  of 
martyrdom. 

Thus,  on  the  one  hand,  irreproachable  conduct,  exemplary 
goodness,  and  sound  reason  ;  but  on  the  other,  as  was  the  case 
with  many  renowned  personages,  visions  and  revelations.  We 
will  first  state  the  facts,  and  then  proceed  to  their  examination. 

At  the  age  of  twelve,  her  first  apparition  occurred  as  follows  : 
Being  in  the  field  with  her  companions,  she  saw  a  young  man 
beside  her,  who  said  :  "  Joan,  run  home,  for  your  mother  wants 
you."  Joan  flew  to  her  mother,  who  declared  she  had  not  asked 
for  her.  The  young  girl  was  about  to  return  to  her  friends,  but 
suddenly  a  clear  and  brilliant  cloud  appeared,  and  from  the 
midst  of  the  cloud  a  voice,  which  said  :  "  Joan,  thou  art  born  to 
pursue  another  career,  and  to  do  marvellous  things  ;  for  it  is 
thou  whom  the  King  of  heaven  has  chosen  to  re-establish  the 
kingdom  of  France,  and  to  be  the  aid  and  support  of  King 
Charles,  despoiled  of  his  empire.  Clothed  as  a  man,  thou  wilt 
take  arms  ;  thou  wilt  be  a  chief  in  the  army,  and  all  will  obey 
thy  counsels." 

Day  and  night  similar  apparitions  appeared  to  Joan  ;  she  con- 
tinued for  five  years  in  this  unquiet  state.  Finally,  in  a  last 
vision,  she  received  this  answer  :  "  The  King  of  heaven  com- 
mands and  wills  it  ;  in  future,  ask  not  hoAV  this  can  be  ;  for  if 
such  be  the  will  of  God  in  heaven,  such  it  will  be  on  earth.  Go, 
then,  to  the  neighboring  place  called  Vancouleurs,  which  alone 

to  198,  Paris,  1843.    Friedreich,  Algemeine  Diagnostik  der  psychischen 
Krankeiten,  p.  291,  Wlirtzburg,  1832. 
*  Charles  Nodier. 


388  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

in  all  the  champaign  counti'ies  has  preserved  its  allegiance  to 
the  King.  He  who  commands  there  will  conduct  thee  without 
difficulty  whithersoever  thou  wouldst."* 

On  being  interrogated  bj  her  enemies,  this  ill-fated  girl  said 
that  St.  Catherine  and  St.  Margaret  appeared  to  her,  at  the 
age  of  thirteen,  and  taught  her  self-government.  The  first 
voice  which  she  heard  was  that  of  St.  Michael,  whom  she  saw  ; 
he  was  accompanied  by  angels  ;  all  bore  corporeal  forms.  She 
declared  that  she  embraced  the  two  saints,  that  they  had  a 
sweet  odor,  and  that  she  had  touched  them.f 

Hallucinations  of  nearly  all  the  senses  are  here  evident.  Was 
this  sufficient  to  make  the  heroic  Joan  of  Arc  a  madwoman  ? 
We  protest  against  the  idea.  Read  the  interrogatories,  so 
stamped  with  malevolence,  craft,  and  hate,  and  you  will  be 
struck  with  the  simple,  ingenuous,  and  consistent  replies  of  the 
maiden.  She  stood  ever  superior  to  her  judges,  baffling  their 
perfidy  by  her  candor,  their  cowardice  by  her  courage,  their 
folly  by  her  strong  intellect,  their  narrow  bigotry  by  her  exalted 
piety. 

Her  life,  as  this  examination  proves,  was  one  of  innocence  and 
purity.  When  the  irregularities  of  the  armed  soldiery  struck 
fear  into  her  companions,  she,  trusting  in  her  purity,  led  their 
flocks  safely  through  dangerous  places. 

She  attained  the  age  of  thirteen,  a  period  in  which  her  vigor- 
ous nature  might  be  expected  to  manifest  the  full  development 
of  all  the  physical  functions,  since  her  moral  and  intellectual 
faculties  were  prematurely  developed.  At  this  time,  all  the 
inhabitants  of  the  country  lived  in  constant  dread  of  the  English 
and  Burgundians  ;  all  hearts  were  bowed  down  by  the  deepest 
dejection.  The  country  seemed  irrevocably  lost.  The  young 
imagination  of  Joan  was  inflamed  at  the  sight  of  the  distresses 
of  her  country,  of  her  hamlet,  of  her  family.  Adolescence, 
which  should  now  have  succeeded  childhood,  caused  an  extra- 
ordinary agitation  in  her  blood  and  her  brain.  In  this  kind  of 
crisis,  she  turned  her  eyes  towards  the  windows  of  the  church, 
on  which  the  brilliant  rays  of  the  sun  were  reflected.     She  was 

*  Buchon,  op.  cit.  Panthéon  littéraire,  Lettre  du  Sieur  Perceval  de 
Boulouruiack,  521  et  522. 

t  Interrogatoire  du  17  Mars,  p.  492. 


HALLUCINATIONS  IN  A  RELIGIOUS  POINT  OF  VIEW.  389 

dazzled,  and  remained  plunged  in  a  kind  of  ecstasy.  Then  it 
was,  continues  M.  Buchon,  whose  account  we  borrow,  that  those 
visions  commenced  which  related  to  her  mission. 

This  great  moment  of  hallucination  passed,  Joan  returned  to 
herself,  and  doubted  the  reality  of  what  she  had  seen.  For 
several  weeks  her  blood,  become  cooler,  did  not  convey  to  her 
brain  either  warlike  fervor,  marvellous  visions,  or  prophetic 
inspirations  ;  but  at  the  close  of  every  few  weeks,  when  the 
symptoms  of  a  great  constitutional  revolution  were  manifested, 
which  appear  never  to  have  been  developed,  the  same  hallucina- 
tions were  reproduced  to  her  dazzled  eyes;  St.  Michael  became 
visible,  and  she  fell  into  ecstatic  reveries  in  her  mystic  conversa- 
tions with  him,  with  the  angel  Gabriel,  St.  Catherine,  and  St. 
Margaret,  who  all  Avore  rich  and  precious  crowns.  It  was  in 
vain  that  she  opposed  reason  to  these  visions  ;  each  recurrence 
of  the  same  phenomena  gave  them  more  power  ;  and  as  the 
voices  which  appealed  to  her  pure  and  noble  heart  murmured 
only  thoughts  of  honor  and  devotedness,  she  at  length  no  longer 
mistrusted  them,  but  hailed  them  with  more  eagerness  than  she 
had  at  first  dreaded  them.  She  had  already  lived  for  seven 
years  in  this  intimate  communion  with  the  most  exalted  thoughts, 
which  found  an  echo  in  herself.  lier  eighteenth  year  was  at- 
tained, in  all  the  vigor  of  her  fine  organization.  She  was  ready 
to  complete  her  sacrifice.  She  presented  herself  to  the  Governor 
of  Vancouleurs,  who,  touched  with  so  much  courage  and  perse- 
verance, yielded  at  length  to  her  prayers,  and  sent  her  armed 
to  Chinon.* 

This  appreciation  of  the  conduct  of  Joan  of  Arc  by  a  man  of 
incontestable  merit,  appeared  to  us  so  conformable  with  scientific 
views,  that  we  thought  it  right  to  give  the  entire  passage.  But 
now  the  objections  present  themselves  which  we  have  elsewhere 
made.  If  irregularity  in  a  phenomenon  important  to  vroman 
must  be  looked  on  as  the  cause  of  the  hallucinations  of  Joan, 
how  is  it  that  we  do  not  find  any  analogy  in  those  which  occur 
in  our  day  under  similar  circumstances?  If  the  monthly  period 
exercises  an  action  on  the  brain,  it  results  in  disorders  more  or 
less  decided,  of  feeling,  motion,  or  intellect,  in  symptoms  of  in- 

*  Buchon,  Analyse  raisonée  des  documents  sur  la  Pucelle,  p.  196-lOS. 


390  ox  HALLUCINATIONS. 

sanity,  in  short,  in  a  state  of  suffering.*  Nothing  of  this  cha- 
racter occurred  with  Joan  ;  her  health  was  sound,  her  judgment 
clear  ;  for  these  hallucinations,  reflections  of  the  belief  of  the 
times,  were  the  consequences  of  the  idea  that  her  mission  was 
of  divine  origin. 

The  violent  manner  in  which  our  doctrine  of  the  coexistence 
of  hallucinations  with  reason  has  been  attacked,  makes  it  but 
fair  on  our  part  to  quote  such  authors  as  view  the  matter  in  the 
same  light  with  ourselves. 

We  have  never  professed  to  think  that  persons  having  hallu- 
cinations were  in  a  usual  state.  We  have  sought  for  an  explana- 
tion of  these  phenomenon,  formerly  so  frequent,  and  even  still 
of  occasional  occurrence,  in  enthusiasm,  the  offspring  of  strong 
belief,  and  favored  by  those  peculiar  circumstances  in  the  midst 
of  which  they  were  produced. 

We  shall  see  that  this  explanation,  which  agrees  with  that  of 
a  distinguished  writer,  M.  Ch.  Louandre,  is  as  ingenious,  much 
more  probable,  and  bears  a  philosophic  and  historic  weight  very 
much  differing  from  that  which  imputes  them  to  diseases  of  the 
organs. 

Let  us  return  to  the  case,  so  thrilling  in  interest,  of  the 
heroic  Joan  of  Arc,  of  which  M.  Quicherat  has  published  im- 
portant documents,  and  on  which  M.  Michelet  has  delivered  a 
remarkable  verdict. 

In  the  Middle  Ages,  it  was  a  Christian  belief,  in  other  words, 
a  traditional  dogma,  that  God  honored  France  with  special  pro- 
tection, and  that  he  had  selected  it  for  his  kingdom  on  earth. 
This  creed  appears  startlingly  prominent  in  the  interpretation 
of  historic  facts,  and  is  reduced  into  many  marvellous  legends. 
God  sends  the  oil  for  the  coronation,  to  the  cathedral  at  Rheims, 
by  the  dove,  which  conveys  celestial  messages.  But  whatever 
may  be  the  fact  of  the  St.  Ampoule,t  there  is  no  doubt  that 
this  legend  exercised  a  powerful  influence  on  the  destinies  of 
French  royalty,  and,  through  that  source,  on  the  destinies  of 
the  country.     The  coronation  of  our  kings  is  not  a  vain  cere- 

*  A.  Brierre  de  Boismont,  Récherches  bibliographiques  et  cliniques  sur 
la  menstruation.     Annal.  Med-psychol.  Oct.  1851. 

t  The  phial  containing  tlie  sacred  oil  used  at  the  coronation  of  the 
kinjïs  of  France. 


HALLUCINATIONS  IN  A  RELIGIOUS  POINT  OF  VIEW.  391 

mony.  It  is  a  mystic  solemnity  in  which  God  confers  especial 
grace,  the  spirit  of  justice  and  the  gift  of  miracles.  Here  then 
is  a  source  which,  ever  since  its  origin,  has  presented  an  inex- 
haustible number  of  marvellous  facts  in  the  ages  of  faith. 

Without  doubt,  the  belief  in  divine  interposition  and  tradi- 
tions, everywhere  spread  abroad,  had  reached  Joan,  and,  when 
we  look  back  into  former  times,  we  can  comprehend  how,  in 
questioning  her  courage  and  her  faith,  in  listening  to  those 
mysterious  voices  which  spoke  to  her  during  her  ecstasy,  she 
recosrnized  in  herself  the  angel  announced  for  the  salvation  of 
France. 

In  order  to  overcome  all  obstacles,  it  sufiBced  this  noble 
girl  to  have  a  glimpse  of  her  sacred  mission  ;  it  sufficed  her  that 
she  had  placed  her  foot  on  that  mystic  ladder  which  leads,  by 
visions,  to  the  threshold  of  eternity. 

Joan  of  Arc  is  of  the  same  family  with  Hildegarde  and  Saint 
Catherine  of  Sienna.  Like  these  two  saints,  she  obeyed  that 
superior  faculty  of  enthusiasm,  illuminism,  and  ecstasy  which, 
beyond  the  bounds  of  all  analysis,  approaches  the  most  pro- 
found mysteries  of  being,  but  which  is  no  less  an  actual  fact, 
permanent  in  history,  and  inherent  in  human  nature. 

In  this  internal  disturbance  of  ecstasy,  the  mind,  powerfully 
over-excited,  demands  of  imagination  the  realization  of  the  phan- 
toms of  its  dreams;  and  imagination,  despite  of  the  resistance  of 
reason,  endues  them  with  form  and  substance.  The  mind  embraces 
new  horizons;  the  external  world  is  no  longer  seen  under  ordi- 
nary circumstances;  it  no  longer  succumbs  to  probability,  and 
the  mirage  rises  on  all  sides  with  features  and  authority  so 
grand  that  mystics  have  established  the  superiority  of  the  in- 
ternal over  the  external  sense.  "  This  internal  sight,  this  ubiqui- 
tous vision,"  as  Hugues  said  to  Saint  Victor,  "  sees  God  and  all 
that  is  in  God  ;  when  enlightened  by  faith,  the  appearance  of 
intangibility  is  attained,  and,  through  faith,  that  is  seen  which 
would  escape  the  senses  in  the  world  of  matter. 

Hallucinations  are  not  confineQl  to  individuals;  they  exist  also 
in  communities;  visions  become  contagious. 

Besides,  Joan  and  her  contemporaries  would  discover  in  Christ- 
ian tradition  the  logic  of  these  hallucinations.  Angels  appeared 
to  Abraham,  Moses,  and  Joshua.  The  ecclesiastical  writers  of 
the  early  ages  said,  that  when  two  nations  went  to  war,  the 


392  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

celestial  spirits,  stationed  on  the  limits  of  the  t-^vo  kingdoms,  also 
■veaged  a  terrible  warfare,  which  explains  the  propensity  of  men, 
in  the  Middle  Ages,  to  see  armies  engaging  in  battle  in  the 
clouds.  The  spectators,  who  witnessed  the  execution  of  the 
heroic  Joan  of  Arc  related  that  they  saw  the  sacred  name  of" 
Jesus,  the  last  which  she  pronounced,  written  in  the  flames. 

The  real  explanation  of  the  glorious  destiny  of  Joan  of  Arc, 
may  be  called  patriotism  and  military  genius,  exalted  by  faith 
to  the  highest  limits  of  inspiration.  This  is  all  that  modern 
reason  can  admit. 

M.  Michelet,  who  has  dived  deeply  into  the  belief  of  the 
Middle  Ages,  recognizes  religious  inspiration  as  doing  homage 
to  the  sentiments  which  form  heroes  and  martyrs,  namely,  a 
sincere  faith  and  strong  patriotism;  he  shows,  towering  above 
human  acts,  the  mysterious  influence  of  Providence  on  great 
events,  and  the  divine  ray  which  proceeds  from  the  Infinite  on 
that  elected  soul,  in  order  to  arouse  in  it  the  silent  poetry  of 
sentiment.* 

The  learned  Dr.  Ideler,  physician  to  a  lunatic  hospital  in 
Berlin,  after  having  quoted  many  passages  of  my  work,  thus 
expresses  himself:  "  The  importance  of  these  considerations, 
which  may  serve  as  a  criterion  by  which  to  distinguish  real 
insanity  from  the  separate  phenomena  of  genius  and  moral 
exaltation,  and  which  should  guide  us  through  our  researches, 
is  still  more  evident  in  the  application  which  the  French  physi- 
cian makes  of  the  higher  principles  exhibited  by  celebrated 
personages.  I  borrow  the  beautiful  picture  which  he  draws 
of  the  3Iaid  of  Orleans." -\ 

If  facts  were  not  already  too  numerous,  we  would  repeat  here 
the  account  of  St.  Genevieve,  to  whose  vision  may  be  attributed 
the  salvation  of  Paris.  We  should  read  the  account  of  that 
saint,  in  the  interesting  paper  by  M.  Thierry  on  Attila,  in  order 
to  entertain  no  doubt  of  the  exalted  state  of  her  mind. J 

The  more  we  multiply  cases  drawn  from  history,  the  more  we 
are  forced  to  recognize  the  fact  that  celebrated  men,  above  all 

*  M.  Ch.  Louandrc,  Rovue  des  Deux  Mondes,  le  Juillet,  p.  106. 
t  K.W.  Ideler,  Versuch  einer  Théorie  des  rcligiosen  Wahnsinnes,  p.  30, 
1  vol.  8vo.  Ilalle,  1848. 

X  Attila,  Revue  des  Deux  Mondes,  Mars,  1852. 


HALLUCINATIONS  IN  A  RELIGIOUS  POINT  OF  VIEW.  393 

those  "who  have  striven  to  ameliorate  the  condition  of  their  kind, 
would  find  a  niche  in  the  pandemonium  of  lunacy,  if  morbid  hal- 
lucination alone  would  justify  their  admission. 

Every  one  has  heard  of  the  sect  of  Friends,  or  Quakers  ; 
'their  probity  has  become  proverbial  ;  but  with  existing  medical 
doctrines,  George  Fox,  the  founder  of  the  Society,  would  be  but 
a  lunatic.  I  do  not  know  how  that  great  man  has  escaped 
modern  iconoclasts,  since  he  possessed  all  the  necessary  qualities 
to  be  crushed  by  them. 

In  order  to  give  himself  up  to  a  work  of  regeneration,  George 
Fox,  early  in  life,  abandoned  his  family,  and  during  a  long  series 
of  years  dressed  in  skin  from  head  to  foot.  Now  concealed  in 
his  chamber,  now  hidden  in  the  cleft  of  a  large  tree,  fasting, 
praying,  and  meditating  on  the  Holy  Scriptures,  he  was  assailed 
by  a  variety  of  temptations  and  discouragements.  About  this 
period,  he  had  many  revelations  which  struck  him  with  astonish- 
ment ;  it  was  disclosed  to  him  that  all  Christians,  tvJiether  Pro- 
testants or  Papists,  îvere  believers  and  sons  of  God.  Alarmed 
and  distressed  at  finding  no  support  on  any  side,  he  was  finally 
consoled  by  a  voice  which  said  to  him  :  "There  is  one  who  can 
console  and  aid  you,  even  Christ  himself."  As  was  the  case 
with  St.  Francis,  of  Assise,  it  was  during  a  vision  that  he  re- 
ceived the  consecration  of  the  spirit.  For  fourteen  days,  he 
remained  in  a  kind  of  lethargy,  and  Avhilst  his  body  lay  to  all 
appearance  dead,  his  mind  plunged  into  eternity,  and  he  wit- 
nessed what  no  language  could  describe.  "I  saw,"  said  he, 
"the  greatness,  the  infinity,  and  the  love  of  God."  One  Sunday, 
in  1649,  he  felt  himself  drawn  to  enter  Nottingham  Cathedral 
in  order  to  bear  witness.  It  is,  therefore,  undeniable  that  the 
founder  of  the  Society  of  Quakers  had  visions  and  revelations. 
These  psychological  phenomena  were  also  manifested  in  the  first 
disciples  who  responded  to  his  voice.  Like  him,  all  were  deeply 
convinced  of  their  infallibility,  all  looked  on  themselves  as  saints 
delivered  from  all  sin,  and  endowed  with  the  gift  of  prophecy  ; 
but  all  were  likewise  endoAved  with  a  kind  of  heroism,  a  con- 
tempt of  danger,  and  a  passion  for  plainness.* 

Let  us  now  return  to  those  four  characters  drawn  from  differ- 

*  Les  Quakers,  George  Fox  et  les  premier  Prophètes,  Revue  des  Deux 
Mondes,  2  vol.,  1850,  p.  94,  et  seq.,  par  M.  J.  Milsand. 


394  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

ent  countries,  who  increase  in  grandeur  in  proportion  as  we  view 
them  from  a  distance,  and  towards  whom  posterity  is  beginning 
to  show  justice.  Will  they  emerge  with  less  brilliancy  and 
purity  for  being  submitted  to  the  test  of  human  science  ?  The 
account  already  given  answers  this  question  ;  what  we  are  about 
to  add  will  leave  no  doubt  on  the  subject.  A  principal  and 
decisive  fact  is,  that  each  of  these  personages  is  the  representa- 
tive, the  personification  of  one  of  those  ideas  which  exert  so 
great  an  influence  in  the  world.  Their  mission  is  providential  ; 
their  acts  are  impelled  by  a  superior  power  ;  they  are  forced  to 
do  as  they  do.  The  kingdom  of  France  is  nearly  destroyed  ; 
scarcely  a  single  town  remains  to  the  Dauphin  ;  at  this  point 
(this  is  a  main  fact  in  our  history),  a  simple,  innocent,  and  vir- 
tuous young  girl  comes  forth  from  the  fields,  accomplishes  that 
which  the  greatest  warriors  have  failed  in  doing,  and  the  king  of 
France  receives  the  crown  from  her  hands. 

The  religious  curb  imposed  for  several  ages  on  the  human 
mind  has  become  too  weighty  ;  serious  mistakes  have  made  it 
still  more  difficult  to  be  borne  ;  low  groanings,  precursors  of  the 
tempest,  are  heard  muttering  around  ;  human  reason  reclaims 
her  rights;  the  cohorts  are  ready;  they  wait  but  a  leader  ;  at 
length  he  crosses  the  threshold  of  his  cloister,  and  gives  to  the 
world  the  right  of  investigation.  But  the  violence  of  his  attacks, 
the  ruin  which  he  deprecates,  and  the  destruction  with  which 
he  threatens  the  Catholic  Church,  produces  a  reaction  ;  an 
obscure  soldier  rises  from  the  midst  of  the  camp,  who,  Avith  an 
eagle  glance,  scans  the  plan  of  the  Reformer,  seizes  its  vulnerable 
parts,  arranges  his  own,  and  reconstructs  the  tottering  edifice 
with  such  success,  that  all  the  eff"orts  of  Protestantism  fall  shat- 
tered at  its  feet. 

Without  attaining  the  level  of  those  three  illustrious  men,  the 
founder  of  Quakerism  supplied  a  need  of  his  time.  He  came, 
as  M.  J.  Milsand  remarks,  at  a  period  when  old  customs  were 
about  to  yield.  An  infinitude  of  unsatisfied  wants  were  crowded 
together  in  his  nature,  whence  a  future  was  to  be  formed  ;  an 
infinitude  of  instincts  were  developed,  but  were  not  yet  defined 
or  classed.  He  experienced  to  the  highest  degree  an  invincible 
repugnance  to  the  worldly  vanity  and  morose  dogmatism  of  the 
bigots  who  surrounded  him.  The  language  of  the  doctors  had 
incensed  him,  and  he  felt  an  irresistible  desire  to  reply  to  them. 


HALLUCINATIONS  IN  A  RELIGIOUS  POINT  OF  VIEW.  395 

This  feeling  he  took  for  a  revelation.  He  did  as  others  then 
did. 

In  fact,  in  1648,  these  convictions,  instead  of  being  ascribed 
to  the  evidence  of  truth,  and  to  indisputable  principles,  as  was 
the  case  in  later  times,  were  attributed  to  a  revelation.  "  Re- 
ligion was  the  fashion  of  the  day,"  said  one  of  the  most  religious 
writers  (Daniel  Neal,  the  historian  of  the  Puritans).  Officers 
preached,  Avomen  mounted  the  pulpit,  children  received  for  their 
Christian  names,  "Praise  God,"  or  "Serve  the  Lord."  Every- 
one interpreted  for  himself  the  will  of  the  Most  High,  as  if  he 
alone  held  the  register  of  the  divine  law.  Fox,  far  from  being 
an  anomaly,  was  a  popular  prophet,  or  rather,  an  exaggeration 
of  his  time  ;  his  course  was  guided  by  the  age,  and  ignorance 
had  raised  his  fixed  ideas  to  exaltation,  causing  him  to  mistake 
his  desires  for  actual  facts. 

At  the  sight  of  such  works,  and  such  great  results,  obtained 
by  such  superior  minds,  who  will  persist  in  comparing  their  hal- 
lucinations with  those  of  the  individuals  who  come  under  our 
daily  notice  ? 

We  have  already  said  that  pure  hallucinations,  without  the 
complication  of  any  one  of  the  forms  of  insanity,  appear  to  us 
to  be  as  rare  as  real  monomania.  For  our  part,  we  have  never 
met  with  any  one  suffering  from  hallucination,  whose  error  was 
so  circumscribed  that,  in  giving  way  to  their  idea,  we  have  found 
them  rational  on  all  other  points.  All  whom  we  have  known, 
and  all  of  whom  we  have  read  in  the  works  of  modern  authors, 
have  given  tokens  denoting  a  confusion  in  their  ideas,  howso- 
ever they  might  endeavor  to  conceal  the  state  of  their  minds 
from  others.  Alternately  unsteady,  strange,  eccentric,  gloomy, 
misanthropical,  apathetic,  frivolous,  incapable  of  carrying  out 
the  least  project,  holding  extraordinary  conversations,  or  com- 
mitting inexplicable  actions,  they  have  vainly  endeavored,  by 
acts  and  words  really  rational,  to  escape  the  watchful  eye  of 
the  investigator.  The  wound  was  always  perceived,  like  that 
indelible  stain  of  blood  which  the  experienced  eye  can  detect 
notwithstanding  all  attempts  to  obliterate  it.  Some  very  rare 
instances  may  be  cited  of  individuals  who,  with  a  false  idea, 
have,  nevertheless,  fulfilled  very  important  functions.  We  do 
not  dispute  it  ;  but  those  in  this  state  have  been  more  or  less 
conscious  of  their  infirmity  ;  they  watched  themselves,  redoubled 


396  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

their  precautions,  and  did  nothing  to  betray  the  train  of  their 
idea.  Their  general  conduct  resembled  that  of  others  ;  and  they 
rather  drew  along  the  idea  than  allowed  themselves  to  be  en- 
slaved by  it.  Let  us  also  observe  that  these  hallucinated  persons 
were  not  the  expression  of  any  need,  the  representatives  of  any 
idea,  or  the  promoters  of  any  object  useful  to  their  kind.  The 
greater  number,  wrapped  up  in  themselves,  believed  they  were 
called  on  to  reform  mankind,  by  means  either  ridiculous  or  dis- 
proportioned  to  the  end.  It  was  in  vain  that  they  developed 
their  projects  with  address  ;  they  only  succeeded  in  exhibiting 
their  own  weakness  ;  and  howsoever  artfully  they  may  have 
draped  themselves,  pride,  vanity,  and  folly  were  seen  through 
the  rents  in  the  mantle.  In  the  very  presence  of  these  differ- 
ences, how  can  any  one  establish  a  parallel  between  the  power- 
ful, creative,  and  animated  organizations  of  the  former,  and  the 
weak,  sickly  natures  of  the  latter?  We  do  not  deny  that  both 
these  classes  of  persons  were  hallucinated  ;  but  the  hallucina- 
tions of  the  former,  consequent  on  the  times,  were  compatible 
with  reason,  whilst  those  of  the  latter  were  always  in  a  greater 
or  less  degree  combined  with  insanity. 

If  the  observations  that  we  have  made  be  conclusive,  and  the 
reasonings  that  we  have  deduced  therefrom  be  just,  then  the 
opinion  ought  to  be  rejected,  which  has  made  of  Socrates,  Plato, 
Numa,  Pythagoras,*  Pascal,  and  many  other  illustrious  person- 
ages, so  many  hallucinated  madmen.  These  conclusions  are  so 
natural  that  a  learned  physician  and  philosopher,  whose  charac- 
ter and  talents  have  won  for  him  universal  esteem,  after  having 
converted  all  these  celebrated  persons  into  visionaries,  who  would 
now  be  confined,  adds  the  following  words,  which  will  excite 
much  criticism  :  "In  order  to  act  on  the  multitude,  to  seize 
on  the  people,  to  overturn  or  change  beliefs,  and  to  imprint  a 
furrow  on  the  face  of  nature  that  ages  will  fail  to  efface,  it  is 
necessary  to  think,  speak,  be  deceived  and  grow  frenzied  with 
the  masses  ;  to  believe  with  them,  and  beyond  them  ;  to  be  their 
messenger  and  their  prophet,  in  order  that  they  may  think  you 
the  prophet  of   God,  and  yield  a  belief  that  you  possess  his 

*  Consult  a  very  curious  work,  entitled  Apologie  pour  les  grands  hommes 
soupçonnés  de  Magie,  par  M.  Naudé,  Parisien,  Amsterdam,  1722,  1  vol. 
12nïo.  p.  136, 


HALLUCINATIONS  IN  A  RELIGIOUS  POINT  OF  VIEW.  397 

power."  And  he  terminates  the  passage  thus  :  "  They  were  not 
madmen,  but  they  were  hallucinists;  such  as  neither  do  nor  can 
exist  again;  hallucinists  whose  visions  were  visions  of  reason."* 

The  objections  which  we  have  offered  in  the  name  of  science 
and  literature,  so  unhappily  tarnished  by  the  stigma  of  madness, 
had  already  fallen  under  the  notice  of  others  than  ourselves  ;  it 
had  been  said,  the  visionaries  of  old  must  not  be  classed  with 
madmen;  they  were  deceived,  but  it  was  with  the  ideas  of  their 
age;  and  it  would  be  absurd  to  tax  all  the  generations  which 
have  preceded  us,  with  madness.  It  was,  if  you  will,  an  error 
of  the  human  mind,  but  not  a  disease. 

Leuret,  in  his  Fragmens  Psychologiques  sur  la  folie,  a  work 
equally  interesting,  and  well  written,  but  whose  doctrines  cannot 
be  embraced  by  those  holding  religious  convictions,  has  endea- 
vored to  refute  these  objections.  "  We  must  here  draw  a  dis- 
tinction," he  says,  "between  those  who  had  visions  and  those 
who  had  faith  in  them.  For  the  latter,  they  were  in  error,  and 
in  error  only,  I  readily  admit  it.  As  for  those  who  had  visions, 
they  were  deceived  like  the  others,  but  they  were  also  deranged, 
because  they  had  within  themselves  an  invincible  cause  of  error; 
they  experienced  unusual  phenomena,  which  made  them  distinct 
intelligences,  exempt  from  ordinary  rules  ;  or  rather  without 
rules,  living  in  a  world  of  fancy,  out  of  which  no  reasoning  could 
entice  them.  Amongst  our  ancestors,  no  doubt,  the  condition 
of  the  human  mind  powerfully  concurred  in  the  frequent  pro- 
duction of  visions  ;  but  it  does  not  cease  to  be  a  disease  because 
it  is  dependent  on  a  general  cause  ;  and,  as  there  is  no  essen- 
tial difference  between  the  visionaries  of  our  own  day  and  those 
of  former  times,  both  should  be  placed  in  the  ranks  of  lunatics." 

Without  pausing  on  the  difference  of  opinion  between  the  two 
authors  as  to  the  psychological  state  of  these  individuals,  whom 
the  first  looks  on  as  such  hallucinists  as  will  no  more  be  seen, 
whose  sensorial  errors  were  compatible  with  the  most  perfect 
exercise  of  reason  ;  and  the  second  views  in  the  light  of  insane 
persons  resembling  those  of  the  present  time  ;  whom  the  one 
proclaims  to  be  messengers,  the  expression  of  the  people  ;  and 
the  other,  on  the  contrary,  regards  as  diseased  persons,  impos- 
ing their  visions  on  the  multitude  ;  we  will  reply  that  the  hallu- 

*  Amulette  de  Pascal,  p.  145. 


398  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

cinations  of  those  distant  times  were  not  a  disease,  but  a  belief, 
DO  doubt  erroneous,  like  many  others  in  physics,  chemistry, 
astronomy,  etc.,  which  did  not  hinder  men  from  properly  fulfill- 
ing their  duties.  As  to  those  superior  minds,  to  whom  the  impu- 
tation of  insanity  has  been  more  particularly  addressed,  the 
condition  in  which  they  were,  being  that  of  the  four  personages 
of  whom  we  have  spoken,  we  will  not  reproduce  the  arguments 
on  which  we  have  laid  stress,  to  prove  that  they  were  not  insane. 

In  presence  of  this  doctrine,  so  humiliating  and  so  distressing 
to  humanity,  have  we  not  reason  to  ask,  in  the  words  of  a  late 
writer:  "What,  then,  is  that  sorrowful  side  of  the  mind  which 
delights  in  the  denial  of  immemorial  possessions,  which  reduces 
to  nothing  the  most  sacred  legitimacies,  which  causes  what  was 
adored  to  be  despised,  which  converts  facts  and  changes  counte- 
nances as  if  by  enchantment  ?  Should  the  scholar  reduce  every- 
thing to  his  classifications  ?  Can  he  make  no  allowance  for 
epochs  and  beliefs  ?  And  in  thus  seeing  him  trample  on  all  that 
we  worshipped,  have  we  not  a  right  to  say  :  Have  you  well  under- 
stood those  great  undertakings  that  you  have  blackened,  dis- 
paraged, and  weakened;  those  great  men  whose  littlenesses 
and  weak  points  you  have  divulged  ;  whom  you  have  brought  into 
disrepute  by  falsehood,  or  ignorance  of  their  motives  ?  Have 
you  not  been  led  into  error  by  the  microscope,  through  which 
you  have  examined  them  ?  Every  epoch  has  in  itself  the 
reason  for  its  being,  in  its  actions  and  its  thoughts  ;  and  those 
men,  to  whom  you  impute  madness,  are,  perhaps,  but  the  natural 
result  of  the  times  in  which  they  lived  !" 

A  member  of  the  Royal  Academy  of  Medicine,  Dr.  Renaul- 
din,  in  a  well-written  treatise  on  Mohammed,  viewed  as  a  mad- 
man, thus  expresses  himself: — 

"No,  he  was  no  madman,  who  succeeded,  by  so  many  sacri- 
fices and  self-denials,  in  producing  such  a  revolution  in  the 
religious  system  and  in  the  morals  of  an  entire  nation.  He  was 
no  madman,  who  overthrew  superstition  and  idolatry  to  sub- 
stitute the  worship  of  one  only  God  ;  and  who,  by  this  means, 
extricated  his  country  from  the  darkness  of  barbarism,  made 
the  Arab  name  so  long  feared  and  respected,  and  opened  to  his 
successors  the  road  to  so  many  glorious  conquests.  He  was  no 
madman,  who  endowed  his  country  with  a  code  of  laws,  of  which 
they  were  before  entirely  devoid — a  code,  which,  after  twelve 


HALLUCINATIONS  IN  A  KELIGIOUS  POINT  OF  VIEW.  399 

hundred  years,  is  still  recognized  in  the  countries  professing 
Islamism. 

"  Doubtless,  in  the  outset  of  his  wonderful  enterprise,  he  was 
not  exempt  from  imprudence,  audacity,  and  temerity,  whose 
consequences,  more  than  once,  compromised  the  success  of  his 
mission;  but,  taught  by  experience  and  by  his  profound  know- 
ledge of  mankind,  trusting  in  God  and  in  his  fortune,  pursuing 
the  work  of  his  life  through  a  thousand  obstacles,  and  a  thou- 
sand dangers,  Mohammed  never  gave  way;  on  the  contrary,  he 
exhibited  a  genius  full  of  ingenuity,  firmness,  and  courage — a 
genius,  fertile  in  resources,  superior  to  all  reverses,  and  remark- 
able for  its  expansion,  flexibility,  and  perseverance. 

"As  to  his  visions,  they  may  have  been  imaginary  ;  but,  why 
should  they  not  receive  the  same  explanation  as  that  we  have 
given  to  those  of  the  great  philosophers  of  antiquity,  and  of 
men  powerfully  preoccupied  with  one  idea  in  an  epoch  of  pro- 
found convictions  and  mysterious  faith,  and  placed  in  circum- 
stances which  must  react  upon  themselves?" 

To  the  four  examples  just  given,  we  could  add  that  of  Socrates, 
the  greatest  man  of  antiquity.  But  if  our  arguments,  which  but 
feebly  express  our  conviction,  have  found  favor  with  our  readers, 
they  will  themselves  make  the  application  to  the  Grecian  philo- 
sopher, who,  notwithstanding  medical  theories,  will  no  less  be 
an  eternal  honor  to  human  reason,  and  the  master  of  Plato. 
Common  sense  could  never  look  on  a  man  whose  conduct  was  so 
wise,  so  pure,  and  in  some  sort  so  providential,  as  a  madman. 
His  familiar  spirit  was  only  a  personification  of  self,  the  mate- 
rial form  of  which  belonged  to  the  age.  His  belief  in  dreams 
he  held  in  common  with  all  antiquity;  as  to  the  influence  which 
he  is  reproached  with  exercising  at  a  distance,  on  his  pupils,  we 
only  see  in  it  the  admiration  which  his  talents  excited  in  them, 
their  devotion  to  his  person,  and  the  high  reverence  with  which 
they  viewed  his  mission.  Besides,  what  matters  it,  if  Socrates 
had  hallucinations?  The  truths  which  he  taught  did  not  result 
from  them;  they  existed  no  less  before  than  after  him.  Finally, 
can  we,  as  we  have  elsewhere  remarked,  employ  this  word  in 
connection  with  pure  conceptions,  and  ideas  properly  expressed? 

Thus,  in  our  opinion,  the  celebrated  men  whom  we  have 
named,  and  many  others,  may  have  had  hallucinations,  without 
their  designs,  acts,  or  conduct  being  in  any  degree  influenced 


400  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

by  tliera,  or  without  the  existence  of  any  plausible  pretext  for 
accusing  them  of  insanity,  in  which  respect  they  differ  enorm- 
ously from  the  hallucinated  of  our  day  ;  whose  conversations, 
actions,  and  gestures  have  always  a  stamp  of  madness;  who  are 
the  expression  of  no  need,  fulfil  no  mission,  and,  in  a  word,  ap- 
pear quite  useless  to  their  fellow-creatures. 

'  This  appears  to  be  the  proper  place  for  us  to  examine  halluci- 
nations in  a  religious  point  of  view  ;  for  it  is  contrary  to  reason, 
and  degrading  to  human  nature,  to  pretend  that  much  of  Avhat 
has  been  achieved  of  great,  good,  and  sublime  in  philosophy  and 
morality,  has  been  the  work  of  madmen.  To  maintain  that  the 
prophets,  apostles,  and  saints  were  hallucinated  madmen,  were 
to  undermine  the  faith  of  thousands,  and  to  blame  even  the 
Omnipotent  Creator  himself.  Although  the  plan  of  this  work 
and  its  limits  does  not  permit  of  our  treating  this  question  to 
the  extent  it  merits,  we  nevertheless  propose  briefly  to  state 
our  ideas  on  the  subject.  Were  we  living  at  a  period  when  a 
profession  of  faith  would  be  a  profitable  title  to  temporal  pros- 
perity, we  would  abstain,  but  ours  is  an  age  of  tolerance;  per- 
haps, we  may  say,  of  indifi'erence  ;  every  one  freely  expresses 
his  opinions  ;  we,  therefore,  will  say  that  which  we  believe  to  be 
the  truth. 

There  is  no  nation  without  a  religion.  Ancient  or  modern, 
great  or  little,  powerful  or  weak,  all  have  leaned  on  that  found- 
ation.* 

Their  duration  has  been  in  proportion  to  the  depth  of  convic- 
tion. But  if  religion  be  intimately  connected  with  the  history 
of  a  people,  its  influence  must  above  all  depend  on  the  purity 
of  its  origin  and  the  sanctity  of  its  mission  ;  this  twofold  cha- 
racter, all  must  admit  the  Christian  religion  to  possess. 

Let  us  recollect  the  state  of  the  world  on  the  advent  of  Jesus 
Christ.  Paganism  was  universal.  Mankind,  penned  up  like 
wild  flocks,  existed  only  by  the  will  of  their  masters.  Families 
were  not  constituted;  the  distinctive  character  of  ancient  society 
was  the  multiplicity  of  gods,  slavery,  and  the  little  value  placed 
on  women  and  children.     In  proclaiming  equality,  the  founder 

*  If  England,  America,  and  Russia  have  accomplished  such  great  things, 
if  they  have  been  called  to  such  exalted  destinies,  they  owe  it  to  their  re- 
spect for  religion. 


HALLUCINATIONS  IN  A  RELIGIOUS  POINT  OF  VIEW.  401 

of  Christianity  destroyed  this  threefold  error.*  At  that  voice 
man  burst  his  chains,  awoke  from  his  long  torpor,  and  hailed 
the  dawn  of  his  resurrection.  When  we  contemplate  the  feeble 
means  by  which  this  religion  was  established,  what  adversaries 
it  had  to  encounter,  what  obstacles  to  surmount,  and  in  how  few 
years  it  triumphed,  no  one  can  deny  its  divine  origin,  which  is 
sufficiently  testified  by  Scripture.  Observe  what  a  wonderful 
multitude  of  superior  intellects  have,  since  the  earliest  times, 
brought  to  its  shrine  the  weight  of  their  talents;  number  all  those 
great  minds  which,  during  so  many  ages,  have  ranged  themselves 
under  its  banner  ;  look  at  what  is  passing  in  our  day,  and  say 
if  a  religion  which  has  reckoned,  and  still  reckons,  in  its  ranks 
so  many  great  men,  whose  only  enemy  has  been  pride,  whose 
steps  are  all  strewn  with  mercies,  whose  faults  have  been  those 
of  man,  never  of  its  doctrines,  ought  to  be  regarded  as  the  work 
of  hallucinated  madmen. 

We  are  not  the  first  who,  persuaded  of  the  divine  origin  of 
Christianity,  have  pointed  out  the  line  which  separates  the 
apparitions  of  the  Scriptures  from  those  of  profane  history. 
The  English  faculty,  who  have  chiefly  entered  on  the  subject, 
have  already  put  forth  a  similar  opinion.  Thus  Arnold  writes  : 
"A  rational  Christian  admits  of  no  inspiration  but  that  exhibited 
in  Christ  and  his  apostles.  As  to  the  gift  of  prophecy  in 
paganism  and  amongst  modern  Christians,  it  is  only  claimed  by 
madmen,  dupes,  and  impostors.  The  motives  of  those  deceivers 
could  be  traced  to  private  views  of  ambition  or  fame  and  interest, 
or  zeal  for  the  public  good." 

"It  has  been  asked,"  says  Hibbert,  "if  all  the  authenticated 
facts  of  apparitions  seen  and  voices  heard  should  be  looked  upon 
as  pathological  cases.  A  distinction  must  be  made  in  those  that 
apply  to  Holy  Writ.  It  would  in  fact  be  very  unseemly  to  com- 
ment on  the  manner  in  which  God,  to  answer  certain  purposes, 
has  communicated  directly  with  man  ;  but  this  distinction  once 
established,  it  is  necessary  to  remark  that  no  facts  of  the  kind 
are  proved  to  have  occurred  since  the  apostolic  times  ;  we, 
therefore,  believe  that  all  cases   of  like  character,  since  that 

*  Guizot,  Histoire  de  la  Civilisation  en  Europe,  t.  i.  1842.  Guizot,  Essai 
sur  l'histoire  de  France,  5th  edit.  Collection  Charpentier,  1841. 

26 


402  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

period,  belong  more  to  medicine  than  to  theology. "*      It  must 
be  remembered  that  both  Arnold  and  Ilibbert  are  Protestants. 

Abercrombie  says,  in  his  work  on  the  Intellectual  Faculties, 
that,  howsoever  hmniliating  it  may  be  to  the  pride  of  man,  it  is 
no  less  true  that  the  highest  efforts  of  his  genius  have  only  re- 
sulted in  comprehending  some  insignificant  parts  of  the  plan  of 
creation,  and  the  admirable  order  which  pervades  the  whole.  If 
he  attempts  to  dive  deeper  into  the  causes  of  this  order,  he  finds 
that  the  power  of  the  Creator  extends  beyond  the  limits  of  his 
mind,  and  that  infinity  is  still  before  him.  Notwithstanding  all 
his  efforts,  he  cannot  step  over  the  threshold  ;  and,  if  he  be  per- 
mitted to  reach  it,  he  can  only  contemplate  the  boundless  horizon, 
which  meets  his  bewildered  sight,  and  bow  in  humble  adoration 
before  unmeasured  wisdom  and  incomprehensible  power.f 

It  has  been  thought  strange  that  a  Christian  rationalist,  some- 
tJiing  of  a  jjJdlosopher,  should  have  appealed  to  the  authority  of 
Protestant  authors.  Our  reply  is  simple  ;  if  we  believe  in  the 
excellency  of  the  Catholic  religion,  if  we  firmly  believe  that  our 
country  will  only  be  wise  and  happy  in  proportion  as  that  reli- 
gion is  respected,  we  make  no  sectional  distinctions,  because 
God  has  reserved  to  himself  alone  the  judgment  of  the  con- 
science ;  and  we  find  it  impossible  to  believe  that  he  will  be 
inexorable  to  men  truly  religious,  of  whatsoever  sect  they 
may  be. 

There  are  writers,  who,  in  view  of  the  events  that  have  passed 
before  our  eyes,  and  the  more  terrible  ones  for  which  they  have 
prepared  the  way,  should  have  been  made  more  just  towards 
religion,  but  who  have  indulged  in  great  outcries  against  the 
distinction  Ave  have  made  in  favor  of  the  apparitions  of  the  Bible. 
But,  instead  of  reproaching  us  for  the  weakness  of  bowing  with 
too  much  respect  before  the  canonical  narrations,  they  have 

*  Ilibbert,  op.  cit.  A  very  well-written  estimate  will  be  found  in  a 
work  by  the  Abbé  Lenglet-Dufresnoy  (viewed  religiously),  of  apparitions 
and  visions  which  have  occurred  since  the  apostolic  age,  particularly  in 
the  Middle  Ages.  Traité  Historique  et  Dogmatique  sur  les  Apparitions, 
les  Visions  et  les  Révélations  particulières,  2  vols,  in  12.  Avignon  et  Paris, 
1751,  vol.  i.  p.  97. 

t  Abercrombie,  op.  cit.  ;  John  Cheyne's  Essays  on  Partial  Derange- 
ment of  the  Mind  in  supposed  connection  with  Religion,  1  vol.  Dublin, 
1843. 


HALLUCINATIONS  IN  A  RELIGIOUS  POINT  OF  VIE-VT.  403 

attacked  us  as  an  eclectic,  who  adopted  some  and  rejected 
Others.  In  acting  thus,  we  did  not  pretend  to  more  orthodoxy 
than  the  Fathers  of  the  Church,  and  those  learned  theologians, 
who,  like  ourselves,  were  rationalists  in  regard  to  the  hallucina- 
tions of  sev^eral  holy  personages  ;  which  assertion  will  be  proved 
by  the  following  quotations. 

Saint  Bonaventura  says  decidedly,  that  certain  persons  who 
imagine  they  see  Jesus  Christ,  or  the  Virgin,  and  from  their 
mouths  receive  consolation,  are  exposed  to  errors,  the  publica- 
tion of  which  would  be  in  itself  blasphemous.*  The  famous  Dr. 
Gerson  has  written  a  work  entirely  in  the  same  spirit.  Besides, 
the  Church,  according  to  Cardinal  Lambertini,  grants  very  little 
authority  to  particular  visions.  Some  she  tolerates,  but  rejects 
the  mass.  She  shows  no  respect  to  them  in  acts  of  canonization, 
unless  they  are  accompanied  by  sublime  virtues.  Even  when 
visions  are  recognized  by  the  Holy  See,  they  do  not  constitute 
an  object  of  general  faith.  Any  opinion  wdiatever,  even  the 
least  favorable  to  miracles  of  all  kinds,  may  be  entertained  as  to 
their  causes,  without  exceeding,  on  that  account,  the  bounds 
of  orthodoxy,! 

Thus,  if  we  have  been  at  one  period  believing,  and  at  others 
skeptical,  we  have  only  imitated  the  great  doctors  of  orthodoxy. 
We  must  not,  however,  lose  sight  of  the  fact,  that  the  visions  of 
the  prophets  have  signs  quite  distinct  from  these  particular  hal- 
lucinations ;  they  present  a  train  of  consecutive  revelations, 
carried  on  through  many  centuries,  with  features  perfectly  iden- 
tical, all  announcing  the  regeneration  of  the  world,  and  the 
birth  of  a  Saviour  ;  in  a  word,  a  complete  system. 

One  more  remark  on  this  subject.  It  never  occurred  to  us  to 
make  oui'selves  a  defender  of  the  Catholic  religion  ;  we  have 
neither  learning  nor  presumption  enough  to  undertake  such  a 
task.  We  merely  desired  to  protest  against  those  principles 
which  would  overthrow  the  Bible,  the  gospels,  dogmas,  and 
revelation  ;  in  short,  that  religion  which  M.  Emile  Laisset,  in 
his  remarkable  article,  in  the  Revue  des  Deux  Mondes,  on  the 
Introduction  Philosophique  du  Christianism,  by  Monseigneur, 

*  De  Profectu,  relig.  lib.  7,  c.  8. 

t  De  Canonis,  §  3,  lib.  3,  c.  52  :  M.  Michéa,  Du  Délire  des  Sensations, 
p.  27. 


404  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

the  Archbishop  of  Paris,  proclaimed  the  latest  religion  of  man- 
kind. The  Cliurch  does  not  need  our  co-operation.  Her  social 
constitution,  which  all  the  efforts  of  the  encyclopedists,  led  by 
Voltaire,  and  seconded  by  a  powerful  and  frenzied  aristocracy, 
could  not  destroy  ;  which  the  storms  of  '93  could  not  drown  in 
its  torrents  of  blood,  and  which  now  numbers  charitable  associa- 
tions composed  of  many  thousands  of  men  ;  such  an  organization 
is  strong  enough  to  defend  itself. 

Ecclesiastic  authors  have  rejected  the  organic  medical  doc- 
trine of  hallucinations.  The  Abbé  Bergier,  desirous  of  recon- 
ciling hallucinations  with  reason,  and  of  establishing  certain 
among  them  considered  as  such,  to  be  really  miraculous,  writes 
thus,  in  his  able  Dictionnaire  de  Théologie  :  "  The  brain  of 
Moses  may  have  been  aiîected  in  a  manner  to  make  him  believe 
that  he  saw,  heard,  and  performed  all  that  he  relates.  The 
family  of  Tobias,  in  like  manner,  may  have  thought  that  an  an- 
gel appeared  and  spoke  to  them,  and  did  such  things  as  they 
saw  and  experienced.  The  organs  of  Saul  may  have  been  en- 
lightened as  much  as  if  Samuel  had  indeed  risen  from  the  tomb. 
There  is  no  ground  to  suspect  the  sincerity  of  those  who  have 
related  these  facts."  No  one,  now,  doubts  the  truth  of  religious 
hallucinations  ;  the  only  difference  lies  in  the  mode  of  explain- 
ing them.  Some  attribute  them  to  a  diseased  state  of  the 
brain,  others  to  education,  prejudice,  and  many  other  causes. 
Others,  again,  and  ourselves  amongst  the  number  believe,  that 
those  mentioned  in  the  Scriptures  must  be  referred  to  divine  in- 
terference ;  that  some  may  be  explained  by  the  arguments  which 
we  have  used  in  speaking  of  the  hallucinations  of  Joan  of  Arc 
and  Luther  ;  and  furthermore,  that  others  may  be  attributed  to 
an  abnormal  disposition.  One  remark,  in  conclusion  :  The  doc- 
tors of  the  Church,  Saint  Bonaventura,  Gerson,  and  Cardinal 
Lambertini  allow,  that  pious  but  unenlightened  persons,  may  be 
duped  by  their  illusions.  Saint  Augustin  has  also  asserted  that 
visions  and  apparitions  often  arise  from  a  diseased  imagination. 
Lastly,  certain  books,  very  improperly  cited  as  authorities,  have 
never  been  placed  in  the  list  of  canonized  works  ;  amongst  oth- 
ers. The  Golden  Legend. 

Recapitulation. — The  hallucinations  of  many  celebrated 
personages  should  be  considered  in  relation  to  soundness  of 
reason. 


HALLUCINATIONS  IN  A  RELIGIOUS  POINT  OF  VIEW.  405 

In  making  the  conduct  to  depend  on  a  state  of  health  or  dis- 
ease, historic  facts  are  brought  beneath  the  empire  of  physio- 
logical laws,  which  is  quite  contrary  to  the  philosophy  of  history. 

A  celebrated  man,  living  in  his  age,  is  never  the  ruler  of  an 
epoch — he  is  but  its  incarnation  ;  and  he  almost  invariably  falls, 
if  he  desires  to  substitute  his  own  will  for  that  of  others,  or  to 
turn  the  course  of  popular  ideas  to  his  own  profit. 

Ï0  pretend  that  the  great  actions  often  performed  are  those 
of  monomaniacs,  because  the  realization  of  a  thought  is  irresisti- 
bly pursued  and  carried  out,  is  to  undervalue  genius  and  the 
sublime  transports  of  the  heart.  The  absolute  doctrine  of  the 
influence  of  the  organs  on  moral  actions  is  contradicted  by  daily 
observation,  which  shows  mind  to  rise  superior  to  bodily  decay. 

A  sickly  condition  may  influence  temperament,  humor,  cha- 
racter, but  has  no  action  on  the  phenomena  of  consciousness. 

Sensorial  impressions  appear,  on  reaching  the  brain,  to  be 
deprived  of  their  sensible  sign.  Some  persons,  however,  preserve 
the  faculty  of  reproducing  sensations  in  a  lifelike  form.  Certain 
normal  and  abnormal  states  have  similar  results. 

The  mode  of  producing  hallucination  diff"ers  in  the  child,  the 
dreamer,  the  poet,  the  thinker,  the  religious  man  ;  he  who  recog- 
nizes its  deceptive  character  ;  he  who  does  not  allow  it  to  influ- 
ence his  actions  ;  the  man  who  yields  to  it  from  the  influence  of 
his  age,  and  the  deranged  man. 

In  the  theory  of  hallucinations,  it  should  not  be  forgotten 
that  the  nervous  and  sanguine  systems  should  be  taken  into 
consideration,  although  they  are  only  secondary  causes,  and 
their  action  unknown.  Hallucinations  cannot  be  so  well  under- 
stood as  when  the  nature  of  the  thought  is  studied;  they  may 
be  classed  in  two  sections — spiritual  and  sensual. 

Ideas,  which  originate  in  the  senses,  are  the  first  and  most 
numerous,  which  does  not  at  all  imply  their  pre-existence. 
Having  reached  the  brain,  their  images,  their  sensible  signs  may 
be  instantly  reflected,  or  reproduced  long  afterwards,  or  serve  to 
form  new  combinations.  Attention,  comparison,  imagination, 
memory,  and  association,  have  the  greatest  influence  on  these 
divers  operations. 

There  are  few  men  who  do  not  frequently  embody  the 
thoughts  which  please  them,  and,  for  a  few  moments,  consider 


406  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

tliem  as  realities  ;  but  the  least  effort  of  attention  suffices  to 
dispel  these  chimeras. 

As  association  plays  a  prominent  part  in  the  production  of 
hallucinations,  it  demands  special  attention. 

The  division  of  ideas  into  spiritual  and  sensual  is  important 
in  our  theory,  because  we  believe  the  second  alone  form  the 
material  for  hallucinations,  and  that,  if  the  first  appear  to 
participate  in  them,  it  is  only  by  the  abuse  of  abstraction,  or 
an  imperfection  in  our  nature,  which  gives  material  forms  to 
spiritual  things.  Independence  of  mind  is  manifested  beneath 
the  false  sensations.  Sensation  reaches  the  brain  imperceptibly, 
but  attention  causes  it  to  reappear,  visible  in  proportion  to  its 
strength,  so  that,  although  at  first  confused,  by  degrees  clearer, 
it  ends  by  developing  itself  palpably  to  the  sight.  The  repetition 
of  this  may  lead  the  most  sensible  men  into  error.  According 
to  Crichton,  the  continuance  of  the  operations  of  the  mind  in 
hallucinations  and  monomania  proves  that  all  portions  of  the 
brain  are  not  the  seat  of  this  phenomenon. 

A  powerful  emotion,  or  a  violent  passion,  so  color,  animate, 
and  vivify  ideas,  that  they  may  take  a  material  form. 

Concentration  of  attention  plays  an  important  part  in  the 
theory  of  the  hallucinations  of  celebrated  persons.  The  facts, 
on  which  it  rests,  are  those  where  hallucinations  is  reproduced 
by  an  effort  of  the  will.  This  theory  is  not  always  admissible, 
and  it  is  with  reason  that  hallucinations  have  been  referred,  in 
the  intermediate  state  of  sleeping  and  waking,  to  enfeebled 
attention.  In  this  case  occurs  what  has  been  observed  in  seve- 
ral pathological  states,  where  two  opposite  conditions  occasion 
symptoms  apparently  similar. 

Nothing  is  more  usual  with  nervous  and  impressible  subjects, 
unenlightened  by  education,  than  to  see  preoccupation  of  mind 
become  extreme  at  the  approach  of  night,  and  during  darkness, 
and  give  birth  to  the  most  strange  and  alarming  creations. 

Imagination  exercises  its  influence  in  hallucinations  ;  it  is 
also  remarked  that  they  are  often  a  painted  reflex,  the  pictures 
of  the  thoughts  and  of  the  habitual  occupations  of  the  individual. 

Memory  is  not  less  active  in  the  formation  of  hallucinations, 
for  they  are  often  reminiscences,  recollections  of  long  past  sen- 
sations placed  in  the  brain,   recalled  by  the  well-known  law 


HALLUCINATIONS  IN  A  RELIGIOUS  POINT  OF  VIEW.  407 

of  association,  and  to  which  a  physical  or  moral  cause  gives  all 
the  vivacity  of  actual  sensation. 

Erroneous  beliefs,  which  may  be  called  the  hallucinations  of 
reason,  should  be  studied  in  their  formation,  because  they  exert 
a  great  influence  on  the  production  of  social  and  individual 
halhicinations. 

False  ideas  play  a  considerable  part  in  the  production  of 
hallucinations.  They  are  no  less  important  in  the  creation  of 
insanity.  This  argument  appears  to  decide  the  predominance 
of  moral  over  physical  causes. 

Their  origin  must  be  referred  to  forgetfulness  of  the  two  great 
laws  of  mankind,  the  knowledge  of  God  and  of  self;  whence 
arises  the  desire  for  the  unknown,  the  wish  to  believe,  the  love 
of  the  marvellous,  the  thirst  of  emotion,  and  the  ardor  for 
knowledge  ;  all  so  many  sources  of  hallucinations. 

In  many  cases,  hallucination  is  nothing  extraordinary  ;  it  is 
almost  a  normal  state  consistent  with  reason,  and  it  is  easy  to 
perceive,  how  so  many  celebrated  men  have  exhibited  this 
symptom,  without  being  insane. 

When  the  actions  of  an  illustrious  man  are  under  review,  we 
must  never  lose  sight  of  the  period  in  which  he  lived.  The 
world  of  Cosmao  was  very  different  from  that  of  Galileo,  and 
yet  reason  was  the  same  in  both  epochs. 

In  all  philosophical  study  of  man,  his  duality  must  be  recog- 
nized ;  without  this  consideration,  it  will  be  impossible  to  under- 
stand either  his  history  or  his  biography  ;  that  is  to  say,  either 
his  spiritual  or  his  mortal  existence. 

The  hallucinations  of  many  celebrated  men  belong  to  their 
age  and  not  to  the  individual  ;  a  proof  of  which  is,  that  their 
actions  are  distinguished  by  the  highest  wisdom  ;  their  enter- 
prises exhibit  superior  faculties,  admirable  judgment,  great 
expansion  of  mind,  and  love  of  their  fellow-creatures. 

The  hallucinations  of  these  personages  cannot  be  compared 
with  those  of  madmen  ;  they  were  the  representatives  of  an 
epoch,  a  need,  an  idea  ;  they  must  of  necessity  have  done  as 
they  did  ;  their  mission  was  a  providence. 

Real  hallucinations  are  never  without  a  mixture  of  insanity. 
The  examples  of  hallucinated  persons,  who  have,  Avith  a  false 
idea,  fulfilled  important  functions,  are  very  rare,  and  have  refer- 


408  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

ence  to  individuals,  who,  being  conscious  of  their  state,  kept  a 
strict  watch  over  themselves. 

No  one  of  these  hallucinated  persons  has  been  situated  in  a 
like  manner  to  those  of  Avhom  we  speak.  No  one  has  been  the 
expression  of  a  useful  thought.  No  parallel  can  be  established 
between  the  powerful,  creative,  and  animated  organizations  of 
the  former;  and  the  weak,  plagiaristic,  and  sickly  nature  of  the 
second.  Individuals  of  both  these  sections  have  had  hallucina- 
tions ;  but  in  the  one  case  they  were  the  result  of  the  times,  and 
exercised  no  influence  on  reason;  whilst  in  the  other,  they  have 
ever  been  more  or  less  complicated  with  insanity. 

Every  historical  epoch,  having  its  own  peculiar  characteristics 
in  actions,  and  in  thoughts,  is  summed  up  in  one  man,  who  is  the 
natural  expression  of  it. 

A  well-defined  line  of  demarcation  ought  to  be  established 
between  the  apparitions  of  Scripture  and  the  hallucinations  of 
profane  history,  and  even  of  many  Christians.  The  former,  we 
are  convinced,  are  only  explainable  by  divine  interposition, 
whilst  many  of  the  .second  are  referable  to  the  belief  of  the 
times,  certain  psychological  conditions,  and  to  the  morbid  state 
of  the  brain. 


CHAPTER    XVI. 

PHYSIOLOGY  AND  SYMPTOMATOLOGY  OF  HALLUCINATIONS 
AND   ILLUSIONS. 

Of  psychical  and  psycbo-sensorial  hallucinations  —  The  interposition  of  the 
senses — Intellectual  and  sensorial  phenomena  of  hallucinations  of  sight  and 
hearing — Statistics — Double-sighted  hallucination — Phenomena  of  hallucina- 
tions of  smell,  taste,  touch,  and  general  sensitiveness — Manner  of  the  associa- 
tions of  hallucinations — Periods  favorable  to  the  production  of  hallucinations  — 
Hallucinations  in  dreams — Symptoms  of  illusions — Sexual  hallucinations — In- 
tellectual mechanism  of  hallucinations — Circumstances  favorable  to  the  pro- 
duction of  hallucinations — Of  the  hallucinatory  staid— Rccajjitulation. 

The  habit  of  considering  hallucination  as  an  inseparable 
symptom  of  insanity,  has  hitherto  diverted  attention  from  the 
physiology  of  this  curious  phenomenon.  The  numerous  facts 
which  we  have  gathered,  the  works  of  our  brethren,  and  above 
all  those  of  M.  Baillarger,  enable  us  now  to  fill  up  the  hiatus. 

But,  before  entering  on  this  examination,  a  preliminary  ques- 
tion suggests  itself:  is  hallucination  psychical  or  psycho-senso- 
rial  ?  In  other  words,  is  it  purely  intellectual,  or  does  it  require 
the  intervention  of  the  senses  ? 

Monsieur  Baillarger,  who  has  ably  sustained  this  double  nature 
of  hallucinations  says,  that  in  lunatics,  hallucinations  appear 
rather  as  purely  psychical,  whilst,  in  sane  persons,  the  action  of 
sensorial  organs  must  be  acknowledged.  Thus,  he  considers  that 
there  exist  two  kinds  of  false  perception  ;  the  one  complete,  com- 
posed of  the  two  elements  which  result  from  the  double  action  of 
imagination  and  the  organs  of  the  senses  ;  these  are  psyclio-sen- 
sorial  hallucinations  ;  the  others  incomplete,  resulting  only  from 
the  involuntary  exercise  of  memory  and  imagination  ;  these  are 
psychical  hallucinations.  Howsoever  strong  a  partisan  this 
physician  may  be  for  the  intervention  of  the  senses  in  psycho- 
sensorial  hallucinations,  he  allows  that  the  participation  of  the 
senses  cannot  be  explained,  but  may,  to  a   certain  point,  be 


410  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

proved.      We  subjoin  the   arguments   on  -whicli  his  opinion  is 
founded  : — 

Burdach  says,  in  speaking  of  hallucinatory  images,  "We 
really  see  them  ;  the  eye  has  the  same  sensation  as  if  an  exter- 
nal object  was  placed  before  the  living  and  open  eye."* 

Muller  adds,  having  attentively  watched  his  own  case,  "  We 
are  soon  convinced  that  they  are  not  simple  ideas,  but  really 
sensations."  "Those  who  have  been  cured  of  hallucinations," 
continues  Monsieur  Baillarger,  say,  "  I  saw,  I  heard,  as  distinctly 
as  I  see  and  hear  you  ;"  their  hallucinations  are  to  them  actual 
sensations. "t 

Mr.  Bayle  has  published  a  remarkable  case  in  the  3Iedical 
Mevicio,  of  an  hallucinated  young  lady,  who  believed  herself 
surrounded  by  demons,  which  she  saw,  heard,  and  touched.  We 
transcribe  the  replies  she  made  to  those  who  endeavored  to  point 
out  her  error  :  "  How  are  objects  understood  ?  Because  they 
ai'e  seen  and  touched.  So  I  see,  hear,  and  touch  the  demons 
who  come  out  of  me,  and  I  most  distinctly  feel  those  which  are 
within  mo.  Y/hy  do  you  desire  me  to  repudiate  the  testimony 
of  my  senses,  to  which  all  refer  as  the  source  of  knowledge?" 
If  arguments  were  sometimes  advanced  to  her  on  the  errors  of 
the  senses,  which  she  could  observe  in  other  patients,  she  rebut- 
ted this  comparison:  "My  eye  sees,"  she  would  reply;  "my  ear 
hears,  and  my  hand  touches.  The  patients,  of  whom  you  speak, 
are  deceived  ;  one  of  their  senses  is  contradicted  by  another. 
For  myself,  on  the  contrary,  I  have  the  evidence  of  all." 

Gruthuisen,  quoted  by  Burdach,  reports  cases  which  he  Avit- 
nessed,  in  which  the  sensorial  organs  retained,  on  awaking,  the 
sensation  of  the  impression  of  a  dream  ;  thus,  having  dreamed 
of  the  discharge  of  a  gun,  his  ear  still  rang  with  the  sound  on 
awaking.  J 

M.  Baillarger  chiefly  finds  the  most  satisfactory  details  in  sup- 
port of  his  opinions  in  observations  on  false  visual  perceptions. 

The  English  physiologist  Bostock,  whose  curious  hallucina- 
tions I  have  related,  remarked  that  the   images  followed  the 

*  Burdach,  Traité  de  Physiologie,  trad,  par  Jourdan,  t.  v.  p.  206,  Paris, 
1839. 

t  Muller,  Manuel  de  Physiologie,  trad,  par  Jourdan,  t.  ii.  p.  COG,  Paris, 
1845. 

t  Op.  cit.  t.  V.  p.  202. 


PHYSIOLOGY  AND  SYMPTOMATOLOGY  OF  HALLUCINATIONS.      411 

direction  of  the  eyes.  Grutliuisen  has  seen  cases  in  which  these 
images  concealed  external  objects.  Amongst  other  facts,  he 
relates  that,  agreeably  to  ordinary  optical  laws,  a  very  brilliant 
fantastic  image  left  in  its  place  a  figure  similar  in  appearance, 
but  dim  and  shadowy. 

The  decreasing  progression  in  the  brilliancy  of  images,  and 
above  all,  the  persistence  of  certain  portions,  should  be  recol- 
lected in  demonstrating  the  action  of  the  organs  of  the  senses. 

The  case  of  the  English  doctor,  M.  H.,  which  I  have  given, 
is,  according  to  M.  Baillarger,  a  most  important  one  to  prove 
that  phenomena  truly  sensorial  exist  in  hallucinated  persons. 
Thus,  when  this  physician  turned  around,  after  having  gazed  on 
a  brilliant  object,  he  continued  to  see  it  for  a  considerable  time. 
Wishing  to  verify  the  experience  of  Dr.  Brewster,  on  the  dis- 
tinction of  real  or  fanciful  objects,  he  pressed  the  globe  of  one  of 
his  eyes,  and  saw  the  figure  before  him  double  and  of  its  natural 
size.* 

The  argument  of  M.  Baillarger,  which  we  give  as  faithfully  as 
possible,  does  not  carry  conviction  to  our  minds,  and  we  do  not 
find  in  it  any  proof  which  places  beyond  doubt  the  intervention 
of  the  senses  in  hallucination,  and  the  production  of  the  image 
in  the  eye.  As  to  the  motives  alleged  by  Burdach  and  Millier, 
to  prove  that  the  perception  is  the  same  as  that  experienced  by 
a  clear  and  open  eye,  we  reply,  that  a  man  whose  leg  has  been 
amputated,  complains,  long  afterwards,  of  a  pain  in  his  foot; 
the  sensation  is  as  real  to  him  as  if  the  member  had  not  been 
removed. 

We  purposed  making  several  important  objections  to  this 
theoï'y  ;  but  the  critical  investigation  to  which  M.  de  Chambre 
has  subjected  the  question  appearing  to  us  to  sum  up  the  prin- 
cipal ones,  we  confine  ourselves  to  a  quotation. 

"  We  have  never  been  able  to  discover  clearly,  notwithstand- 
ing the  great  authority  of  IMiiller  and  Burdach,  the  alleged  in- 
tervention of  the  senses  in  hallucinations.  According  to  the 
former,  visioj^s  are  actually  conditions  of  the  sense  of  sir/Id,  and 
according  to  the  latter,  we  then  perceive  in  the  eye,  when  the 

*  Baillarger,  Des  Hallucinations,  des  Causes  qui  les  produisent,  et  des 
îîaladies  qu'elles  caractérisent  (in  the  Mémoires  de  l'Académie  Royale  de 
Médecine,  t.  12,  p.  369). 


412  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

thought  occurs,  the  same  sensation  as  if  an  external  object  was 
placed  before  the  open  eye.  Experimentally,  if  it  be  thus,  if 
the  organ  of  sense  he  a  function,  and  sensation  exists  in  the  or- 
gan, it  necessarily  follows  that  hallucination  would  be  impossi- 
ble if  that  organ  were  destroyed.  Thus  the  blind  would  have 
no  visions,  the  deaf  would  hear  no  voices.  Now,  we  know  that 
the  contrary  is  often  the  case.  The  reply  to  this  objection  is, 
that  if  the  organ  itself  be  incapable  of  sensation,  that  part  of  the 
brain  to  Avhich  the  sensation  belongs  is  the  seat  of  the  phenome- 
non. But  what  does  this  mean  ?  Has  the  brain  one  dwelling 
for  the  sensation  of  sight,  another  for  the  sensation  of  hearing, 
a  third  for  that  of  taste  ?  And  even  if  it  had,  how  Avill  it  affect 
those  who  deny  the  intervention  of  the  senses  in  hallucination  ? 
If  this  phenomenon  occurs  solely  in  one  part  of  the  brain,  it  has 
nothing  to  do  with  the  sensorial  organ  of  the  eye  or  the  ear, 
and  that  is  all  they  maintain.  Beyond  these  terms,  lies  nothing 
but  darkness.  Theoretically,  the  intervention  of  the  senses,  as 
it  is  here  understood,  appears  to  us  useless  or  impossible.  One 
or  other  of  these  two  things  must  be  said:  either  a  false  sensa- 
tion formed  in  the  eye,  is  conveyed  to  the  brain,  or  the  brain, 
by  the  action  of  a  false  thought,  creates  a  sensation  on  the  eye. 
Now,  an  image  cannot  be  formed  in  the  eye  without  an  external 
object  ;  for  an  image  existing  only  in  the  sensorial  organ,  and 
before  the  intervention  of  the  brain,  is  not  and  cannot  be  any- 
thing but  a  certain  arrangement  of  luminous  rays.  So  much  for 
the  first  sense.  In  regard  to  the  second,  may  not  the  unregu- 
lated exercise  of  thought  be,  as  Burdach  asserts,  the  occasion  of 
a  false  sensation  in  the  eye?  It  will  be  conceded  that  the  idea 
is  far  from  being  lucid.  How  can  a  cerebral  or  a  psychical  con- 
ception engender  the  sensation  of  an  image  in  the  eye  ?  In  any 
case,  of  what  use  is  this  hypothesis?  Is  not  a  delirious  concep- 
tion wrought  in  the  brain  ?  When,  for  instance,  it  has  imagined 
a  legion  of  devils  in  action,  the  phenomenon  is  complete.  Why 
say  that  it  cannot  occur  without  the  intervention  of  the  eye  ? 
If  the  devils  really  exist,  it  is  not  the  eye,  but  the  brain  that  sees 
them.  In  hallucination,  the  brain  imagines,  creates,  and 
perfects  them,  and  that  is  precisely  the  fundamental  character 
of  the  phenomenon.  All  this  does  not  prevent  a  distinction  be- 
tween intellectual  hallucinations  and  those  which  are  charac- 
terized by  a  sensible  sign,  a  phenomenon  of  the  sensorial  order, 


PHYSIOLOGY  AND  SYMPTOMATOLOGY  OF  HALLUCINATIONS.      413 

and,  in  this  respect,  the  works  of  some  moderns,  M^I.  BailLirger 
and  Michéa  in  particuLar,  have  been  of  essential  service.  It  is 
true  that  certain  hallucinated  persons,  like  certain  mystics, 
hear  what  they  call  interval  voices,  a  sort  of  inarticulated  words, 
a  mute  communication,  audible  only  in  the  mind;  that  others, 
on  the  contrary,  very  distinctly  hear  voices  who  call  them,  and 
reply  to  them,  and  with  whom  they  hold  long  conversations. 
Let  them  give  to  the  first  kind  of  hallucination  the  name  of 
psychical,  and  to  the  second  that  of  psycho-sensorial,  nothing 
can  be  better.  Let  them  strictly  uphold  that  both  the  one  and 
the  other  are  engendered  in  the  different  portions  of  the  brain, 
some  physiologists  may  agree  to  this.  But  they  are  nowise 
authorized  to  admit,  in  the  last,  the  intervention  of  the  senses."* 

But  M'hilst  rejecting  the  intervention  of  the  senses,  M.  de 
Chambre  no  less  recognizes  their  division  into  psycho-sensorial 
and  psychical,  as  useful  to  assist  in  the  study  of  hallucinations. 
We  also  think  the  distinction  good,  and  adopt  it,  with  the  re- 
mark that  we  consider  it  applies  only  to  the  greater  or  less 
intensity  of  the  phenomenon.  If  the  perception  be  Aveak,  the 
hallucination  is  noiseless — if  more  powerful,  a  sound  is  per- 
ceptible. We  have  ourselves  noticed  these  mental  conversations 
without  the  emission  of  any  sound  ;  but  these  conversations 
would  be  impossible  if  the  word  spoken  had  not  accompanied  the 
word  thought  ;  that  is,  if  the  conventional  sign  had  not  been 
attached  to  the  idea.  If,  therefore,  we  do  not  admit  the  inter- 
vention of  the  senses  in  the  production  of  hallucinations,  we  are 
no  less  convinced  that  the  two  constituent  elements  of  human 
nature  are  found  in  the  hallucinatory  reminiscence,  and,  in  this 
point  of  view,  we  have  also  adopted  the  division  of  the  pheno- 
mena of  hallucinations  into  intellectual  and  sensorial. 

In  studying  the  hallucinations  of  sane  persons,  it  is  allowed, 
as  we  have  already  remarked,  that  those  of  sight  are  the  most 
common,  whilst,  in  the  insane,  those  of  hearing  are  the  most 
frequent  and  most  complex.  According  to  Marc,  hallucinations 
of  hearing  occur  in  at  least  two-thirds  of  the  patients.  Amongst 
the  most  simple  and  the  least  intellectual  hallucinations  of  hear- 
ing, M.  Baillarger   ranks  those   of  lunatics  who   hear  different 

*  A.  De  Chambre,  Analyse  de  l'ouvrage  du  Docteur  Staf  kowski  sur  les 
Hallucinations,  Gazette  Médicale,  1850,  p.  274. 


414  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

MncU  of  noises,  such  as  the  ringing  of  bells,  firing  of  guns,  etc. 
Then  follow  those  which  consist  in  the  repetition  of  the  same 
words.  This  phenomenon  is  equally  noticed  in  persons  in  a 
healthy  condition  ;  thus,  the  pronouncing  of  a  name,  or  even 
a  word,  obstinately  dwells  in  the  mind,  harasses  it  awhile,  and 
suddenly  disappears. 

Hallucinations  in  a  higher  degree  reproduce,  like  an  echo,  the 
habituai  preoccupation  of  the  patients,  their  ideas,  their  studies, 
and  their  words. 

We  may  here  notice  the  analogy  of  a  mental  habit  with  sound 
reason,  in  which  many  persons  detect  themselves  talking  to  and 
replying  to  themselves.  This  bias  of  the  mind  often  occasions 
a  curious  phenomenon.  A  man  who  reads  a  book  or  corrects  a 
proof,  full  of  the  thought  which  engrosses  him,  reads  it  accord- 
ing to  the  text,  although  there  is  no  similitude  between  the 
words  written  and  the  words  thought. 

Hallucinations  appear  sometimes  to  affect  strange  forms  ;  but 
on  careful  examination,  their  elements  are  found  to  have  been 
imbibed  from  books,  pictures,  traditions,  etc.  Thus,  in  the  Middle 
Ages,  the  figure  of  the  devil  was  borrowed  from  the  prevailing 
architecture  of  the  time,  whose  fantastic  compositions  formed 
extraordinary  ornaments  in  their  Catholic  churches  ;  witness  the 
Abbey  of  St.  Martin  de  Boscherville,  near  Rouen. 

Hallucinations  may  be  derived  from  objects  long  since  observed 
and  subjects  long  since  forgotten,  recalled  to  the  memory  by 
some  unconscious  cause,  often  by  the  association  of  ideas  ;  thus 
it  is  true  that,  in  the  great  majority  of  cases,  hallucinations  are 
only  reminiscences  or  creations  of  known  objects.  Sometimes, 
however,  it  is  impossible  to  discover  any  connection  between 
these  false  sensations,  and  occupations  thoughts  and  works. 
Nicolai  and  Bostock  declare  that  they  could  not  trace  any 
foundation  for  their  visions.  Cardan  says  that  he  several  times 
had  visions  of  suits  of  armor,  although  it  was  an  object  entirely 
unknown  to  him. 

Hallucinations  have  not  always  the  character  of  a  fixed  idea, 
or  a  dominant  passion  ;  they  are  sometimes  only  the  reproduc- 
tion of  recollections  and  of  objects  which  had  impressed  the 
senses.  The  delirium  then  assumes  a  remarkable  versatility, 
both  in  conversation  and  action.  This  is  also  noticed  in  some 
kinds  of  mania  and  in  febrile  delirium.     In  other  circumstances, 


PHYSIOLOGY  AND  SYMPTOMATOLOGY  OF  HALLUCINATIONS.       415 

after  having  cominencecl  under  a  simple  form,  or  having  only 
assumed  the  hallucinations  at  the  close  of  a  certain  tim.e,  or 
gradually,  they  become  general,  irregular,  and  attached  at  the 
same  time  to  several  delirious  conceptions. 

It  may  happen  that  the  deranged  persons  imagine  the  voices 
•which  they  hear  to  come  from  without,  and  M.  Baillarger  observes 
this  to  be  most  commonly  the  case.  Very  often,  too,  the  interlocu- 
tors are  designated  by  the  pronouns  he,  she,  them,  and  the  par- 
ticle they.  When  the  patients  are  questioned  as  to  whom  these 
vague  denominations  apply  to,  they  cannot  give  any  definite  an- 
swer. When  illusions  are  added  to  these  errors,  the  patients  usu- 
ally attribute  them  to  those  persons  who  are  about  them.  Far 
from  considering  the  words  addressed  to  them  as  a  product  of  their 
own  minds,  they  attribute  them  to  others  ;  thus  they  are  spoken 
to  in  the  second  iJerson.  Their  minds  embrace  as  it  were  two 
kinds  of  thought,  the  one  which  they  know  belongs  to  them- 
selves, the  other  which  they  attribute  to  strangers  ;  this  is  the 
fact  of  intellectual  duality  noticed  in  the  inspired.  These  voices 
may  express  themselves  in  the  third  person,  and  reveal  to  them 
plots  contrived  against  them. 

Hallucinations  of  hearing  sustain  the  for  and  against,  and 
reflect  the  strifes  of  conscience  ;  there  are  two  voices,  the  one 
urging  to  good,  the  other  to  evil. 

This  internal  combat  occurs  also  in  a  state  of  sanity.  In 
fact,  it  is  not  unusual  to  be  harassed  between  two  opposite  influ- 
ences, one  of  which  counsels  the  adoption  of  a  certain  course, 
and  the  other  opposes  it. 

"Some  hypochondriacs,"  says  Mons.  Falret,  "suffer  inde- 
scribable anxiety  ;  they  conceive  that  all  manner  of  precautions 
are  taken  to  prevent  them  from  committing  suicide,  Avhilst 
secretly  the  means  for  effecting  it  are  pointed  out.  These  pa- 
tients look  repulsive  and  gloomy  ;  despair  is  painted  in  all 
their  features  ;  their  skin  is  cadaverous  ;  their  deeply-sunk  eyes 
are  yellow  and  bloodshot.  Cephalalgia  exists  more  or  less,  usu- 
ally confined  to  the  forehead,  and  particularly  to  the  root  of  the 
nose.  They  have  a  sense  of  beating  within  the  head  ;  are  wake- 
ful, or,  if  they  sleep,  have  troubled  dreams  and  see  fantastic 
apparitions." 

This  psychological  characteristic  demands  the  attention  of  the 
student.     It  would  appear  that  the  same  individual  has  two 


41G  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

different  beings,  the  one  the  principle  of  good,  the  other  of  evil  ;  it 
is  the  strife  between  the  good  and  bad  angels.  We  have  related 
the  ease  of  a  female  who  was  urged  to  suicide,  by  hearing  the  most 
disagreeable,  painful,  and  frightful  things  said  to  her,  and  who, 
at  the  moment  of  abandoning  herself  to  despair,  felt  strength- 
ened and  consoled  ;  like  the  scales  of  a  balance,  each  rising  and 
falling  alternately.  Leuret  attributes  the  error  of  personality 
in  the  deranged  (of  which  we  have  seen  so  remarkable  an  in- 
stance in  the  St.  Yon  Asylum,  in  a  man  named  Lambert,  who 
believed  that  he  died  at  Austerlitz)  to  that  double  action,  in 
virtue  of  which  all  the  reasonings,  objections,  and  remarks  which 
they  use  in  their  arguments,  and  their  dreams,  lead  them  to 
think  that  it  is  another  individual  who  thus  disputes  ;  and  this 
obliges  them  to  say  :  "  They  make  me  act  ;  they  make  me  speak  ; 
they  drive  me." 

There  are  some  hallucinated  persons  who  converse  succes- 
sively with  three,  four,  and  as  many  as  a  dozen  or  fifteen  per- 
sons, each  of  whose  voices  they  profess  to  distinguish.  Occa- 
sionally, the  number  of  voices  diminishes  or  augments.  In  the 
preceding  examples,  the  deranged  heard  the  voices  but  did  not 
reply  to  them  ;  the  contrary  might  happen  ;  in  which  case, 
actual  conversations  would  take  place;  asides,  with  invisible 
characters.  Under  these  circumstances,  the  persons  affected 
often  speak  in  two  different  voices. 

Hallucinations  are  seldom  under  the  control  of  the  will  ;  they 
are  manifested  without  consciousness  on  the  part  of  the  indi- 
vidual. They  surprise  him  by  day  and  by  night,  and  follow 
him  everywhere.  We  speak  chiefly  of  morbid  hallucinations. 
In  some  cases,  however,  they  can  be  conjured  up  at  will.  This 
fact,  admitted  by  Mons.  Baillarger,  is  a  powerful  argument 
against  his  theory  of  the  weakening  of  attention.  Abercrombie's 
patient  could  instantly  evoke  the  figures  he  desired.  So  also  did 
the  celebrated  Niebuhr.  In  the  former  example,  the  halluci- 
nations, once  produced,  remained  a  considerable  time.  Many 
estimable  men,  subject  to  this  state  of  the  brain,  have  remarked 
that  it  is  very  difficult  to  reproduce,  by  a  powerful  concentration 
of  thought,  the  object  of  the  hallucination,  although  it  appeared 
but  a  few  moments  previously,  of  itself,  and  without  the  slight- 
est effort. 

When  hallucinations  of  hearing  take  place  in  those  who  speak 


PHYSIOLOGY  AND  SYMPTOMATOLOGY  OF   HALLUCINATIONS.      417 

several  languages,  the  voices  are  more  distinct  in  those  with 
■which  thej  are  most  familiar  ;  and  become  more  confused  if  the 
foreign  language  is  only  slightly  understood.  Thus  the  prefect 
quoted  by  Esquirol,  heard  the  Russian  dialect  less  distinctly, 
because  he  was  less  acquainted  with  that  language. 

Possibly,  the  intellectual  faculties  receive  a  greater  develop- 
ment in  hallucination.  This  fact,  which  has  been  disputed,  is 
evident  in  inspired  persons  and  ecstatics.  A  lady  one  day  ob- 
served to  us:  "Voices  suggest  expressions  to  me  with  which  I 
am  not  familiar;  they  give  me  words  much  superior  to  those  I 
have  been  in  the  habit  of  using,  or  which  my  education  justifies. 
Their  conversation  often  runs  on  geography,  politics,  and  on 
domestic  economy,  questions  to  which  I  am  a  stranger,  but 
which  I  perfectly  comprehend  when  the  voices  suggest  them." 
It  is  to  this  exaltation  of  mind,  to  enthusiasm,  to  the  choice  of 
words,  eloquence,  and  the  nature  of  the  organization,  that  we 
must  refer  the  great  influence  some  hallucinated  persons  have 
exercised  over  their  fellow-creatures. 

To  this  cause,  Mohammed,  doubtless,  owed  his  immense  in- 
fluence over  a  large  portion  of  mankind.  No,  certainly,  this 
man  was  neither  mad,  nor  an  impostor!  The  thought  of  reform, 
which  engrossed  his  imagination,  had  the  same  eff"ect  on  him,  as 
the  transformation  into  corporeity  of  some  of  Luther's  habitual 
ideas.  Persuaded  of  the  truth  of  his  mission,  but  inhabiting  a 
country  delighting  in  the  belief  of  the  wonderful,  he  finally 
believed  that  he  held  intercourse  with  a  celestial  messenger  ; 
whilst  Luther,  harassed,  pursued,  excommunicated,  surrounded 
by  adversaries,  replying  to  them  only  in  transports  of  rage, 
living  in  the  North,  in  the  midst  of  all  the  beliefs  of  the  Middle 
Ages,  saw  his  ruling  idea  take  the  form  of  the  devil.  But  the 
reason  of  neither  was  overturned,  and  their  actions  were  ever 
worthy  of  their  respective  missions. 

We  might,  also,  here  repeat  the  hallucinations  of  Tasso  : 
"The  subjects  on  which  he  conversed,"  says  Manso,  "were  so 
elevated,  the  style  was  so  sublime  and  extraordinary,  that  sur- 
prise, in  some  measure,  put  me  beside  myself."  In  the  library 
of  Ferrara,  we  have  seen  poems  by  this  great  master,  which 
prove  that  the  hallucinations,  of  which  Manso  speaks,  had  not 
weakened  his  intellect. 
27 


418  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

Again,  hallucinatmis  may  he  the  reproduction  of  former  lively 
sensations. 

M.  Baillarger  has  published  an  interesting  case  of  a  female, 
■who,  having  seen  her  husband  struck  by  a  ball  in  the  midst  of  a 
riot,  was,  during  subsequent  insanity,  tormented  by  the  firing  of 
guns,  and  a  noise  similar  to  the  breaking  of  windows  by  balls,  etc. 
Sensorial  phenomena,  so  called,  in  hallucinations  of  hearing, 
consist,  according  to  our  view,  in  a  greater  degree  of  intensity. 
Thus,  deranged  persons  sometimes  hear  solemn  and  sonorous 
voices.  Dr.  Bland  mentions  a  young  lady,  who  suddenly  heard, 
whilst  at  work  in  her  parlor,  a  deep  and  solemn  voice  which 
repeatedly  called  to  her.  The  same  hallucination  occurred  three 
different  times  in  the  same  month,  and  never  afterwards."* 

Hallucinations  of  hearing  sometimes  consist  in  noises,  Avhich 
the  patients  think  they  hear,  such  as  the  striking  of  clocks,  the 
trotting  of  horses,  as  in  the  celebrated  apparition  of  Ticinus  to 
Mercatus.  The  young  man,  who  heard  the  sound  of  the  waves 
of  the  sea,  entreated  those  about  him  to  rescue  him  from  the 
waters  that  rose  around  him. 

We  must  also  refer  to  hallucinations  of  hearing  those  nu- 
merous stories  of  plaintive  sighs  heaved  by  the  victims  of  a 
great  crime,  of  spirits  from  the  other  world  come  to  give  coun- 
sel, to  announce  an  important  event,  or  to  recall  the  memory  of 
a  bad  action,  the  rustling  of  garments,  footsteps  treading  the 
room  in  the  silence  of  midnight,  doors  opening,  sighs,  lamenta- 
tions, etc. 

In  general,  voices  are  either  murmuring  or  whispering.  The 
sound  may  suddenly  entirely  cease.  The  conversation  of  the 
hallucinated  with  the  creations  of  their  brain,  appear  to  them- 
selves so  rapid,  and  so  silent,  that  they  explain  it  by  a  kind  of 
intuition,  an  electric  shock,  a  magnetic  action,  an  intelligence 
of  two  beings,  a  cojiversation  in  thouyhts.  Blake,  the  celebrated 
seer  of  Bedlam,  said  to  one  who  interrogated  him  on  his  commu- 
nications with  invisible  beings  :  "  We  speak  mind  to  mind."  These 
are  facts  highly  important  to  psychology,  because  they  present 
numerous  points  of  resemblance  with  the  phenomena  observed 
in  the  state  described  by  mystic  authors,  and  with  those  of 
magnetism,  somnambulism,  etc. 

*  Medical  Ilcview,  May,  1842. 


PHYSIOLOGY  AND  SYMPTOMATOLOGY  OF  HALLUCINATIONS.      419 

Sometimes  the  voices  are  close  at  hand,  sometimes  far  off, 
and  in  different  directions.  They  may  be  concealed  above  the 
head,  under  the  floor,  may  come  from  a  neighboring  house,  from 
the  chimney,  from  a  bedpost,  a  bureau,  a  bed,  or  anything. 
Madame  D hears  voices  far  off  in  the  fields  ;  they  are  hid- 
den under  a  tree  ;  and  she  replies  to  them  as  if  she  had  a  speak- 
ing-trumpet. Voices  may  proceed  from  heaven.  Lord  Herbert, 
the  greatest  deist  of  the  age,  heard  a  sound  from  heaven,  which 
decided  him  to  publish  his  work  against  Christianity. 

Sometimes  the  voices  are  only  heard  by  one  ear.  The  pa- 
tient of  whom  Bodin  speaks,  and  who,  according  to  Guy  Patin, 
must  have  been  Bodin  himself,  heard  sometimes  with  the  rio-ht, 
sometimes  with  the  left  ear.  M,  Calmeil,  in  his  article  Hallu- 
cinations of  the  Dictionnaire  de  3Iédecine,  in  25  vols.,  thus  ex- 
presses himself:  "Some  subjects  affirm  that  the  sounds  which 
they  believe  they  hear,  penetrate  at  times  into  the  left,  at  others 
into  the  right  ear."  In  the  Traité  des  Apparitions  et  des  Vam- 
jnres,  by  Don  Calmet  (t.  ii.  p.  371),  we  read  the  case  of  a  young 
man  who,  in  his  left  ear,  heard  distinctly  a  voice  proceeding 
from  the  corner  of  the  cabinet,  which  seemed  about  a  foot  above 
his  head,  and  which  spoke  very  correctly  to  him  for  half  a 
minute,  desiring  him  to  perform  a  certain  action,  on  which  it 
recommended  secresy. 

Mons.  Michéa  has  given  to  this  phenomenon  the  title  of 
double  hallucination  [hallucination  dédoublée).  It  is  not  easily 
discovered  but  in  the  senses  of  touch,  sight,  and  hearing.  We 
will  relate  some  instances  mentioned  by  this  author. 

John  Lairy  was  attacked  with  a  high  fever.  On  the  tenth 
day  of  his  sickness  a  very  remarkable  hallucination  took  place. 
He  believed  that  a  man  was  attached  to  his  right  side,  who  was 
equally  ill  with  himself.  It  was  his  dominant  idea.  He  spoke 
only  of  the  companion  who  partook  in  his  sufferings.  He  was 
very  angry  that  no  attention  was  paid  to  this  companion,  par- 
ticularly that  nothing  was  given  him  to  drink,  whilst  all  the 
care  and  nourishment  was  bestowed  upon  him.  He  frequently 
conversed  with  him  ;  and,  when  the  fever  had  abated,  it  ap- 
peared to  him  that  the  individual  had  risen,  but  was  not  far  off. 
On  every  other  subject  the  patient  was  perfectly  sane.  To  the 
endeavor  to  persuade  him  that  all  he  believed  himself  to  see  and 
hear  was  only  the  result  of  an  irritability  of  the  brain,  he  re- 


420  ON  HALLUCIXATIONS. 

plied  with  violence  :  "  But  here  he  is  ;  he  returns  ;  I  feel  him,  I 
touch  him,  I  see  him,  I  speak  to  him,  and  he  replies." 

At  the  end  of  three  weeks,  he  said  that  his  comrade  had 
quitted  him  during  the  night,  having  left  him,  for  a  legacy,  a 
bladder  filled  with  blood.* 

Marcel  Donat  mentions  a  woman,  fifty  years  of  age,  who,  sub- 
sequently to  a  severe  illness,  incessantly  saw  spiders,  spectres, 
and  tombs.  These  false  perceptions  only  appeared  when  she 
opened  the  left  eye,  the  right  being  closed,  whilst  in  a  reversed 
action  she  saw  nothing  strange.  Marcel  Donat  said  that  neither 
eye  exhibited  any  disease  either  in  the  humors  or  the  tunica. 

Mons.  Michéa,  who  has  more  particularly  noticed  double  hal- 
lucinations, draws  the  conclusion  that  the  fanciful  object  which 
appears  transmitted  to  the  perception  by  a  single  one  of  the 
symmetrical  portions  of  a  sensorial  organ,  is  one  of  the  charac- 
teristics by  the  aid  of  which  we  can  distinguish  the  subjective 
sensorial  perception  from  the  subjective  cerebral  perception. 
We  have  already  replied  to  this  opinion  on  the  intervention  of 
the  senses.  Dr.  Wigan  would  have  cited  this  double  hallucina- 
tion in  support  of  his  doctrine  of  the  duality  of  the  brain. 

It  is  not  unusual  for  hallucinations  of  hearing  to  be  accom- 
panied or  preceded  by  different  kinds  of  noises.  The  patients 
hear  noises  overhead,  and  on  the  walls  ;  or  the  noises  resemble 
humming,  hissing  in  the  ears,  or  breathing. 

Hallucinations  of  hearing,  instead  of  being  external,  become 
internal.  The  voices  emanate  from  the  head,  the  breast,  the 
epigastrium,  the  abdomen  ;  and  some  patients  have  imagined 
themselves  to  become  ventriloquists.  This  symptom  is  not  con- 
fined to  those  having  hallucinations,  but  occurs  also  with  som- 
nambulists, cataleptics,  and  in  certain  hysterical  cases. 

Auditive  hallucinations  are  very  frequent  with  the  insane, 
even  if  they  are  deaf.  An  old  lady  of  seventy,  blind  and  deaf, 
whom  we  several  times  attended,  heard  the  conversation  of  her 
friends,  and  was  much  amused.  It  is  said  that  Beethoven,  who 
became  entirely  deaf  in  his  latter  years,  distinctly  heard  the 
performance  of  his  sublime  compositions  repeated  in  his  head. 
The  frequent  occurrence  of  hallucinations  of  sight  in  persons 

*  M.  Boursat,  Observât.  d'Halluc.  (Encyclograph.  Méd.,  Feb.  18J5),  p. 
327.     Hist.  Méd.  Mirabil.  Franef.  1513,  lib.  ii.  cap.  i. 


PHYSIOLOGY  AND  SYMPTOMATOLOGY  OF  HALLUCINATIONS.      421 

perfectly  sane,  is  well  known  ;  which  caused  us  to  say,  in  our 
first  edition,  that  they  were  more  numerous  than  those  of  hear- 
ing. A  glance  at  the  annals  of  the  Middle  Ages  will  satisfy  us 
on  this  point. 

Amongst  intellectual  phenomena  of  this  sense,  we  must  place 
tlie  7'eproduction  of  a  single  object,  always  the  same,  during  an 
indefinite  period.  One  of  our  brethren,  Dr.  W.  saw  constantly 
before  him  a  black  cow,  and  became  so  worn  out  with  the  per- 
sistency of  this  false  sensation  that  he  destroyed  himself.  No 
one  who  has  read  the  Demonology  of  Sir  Walter  Scott,  can 
forget  the  spectre  of  the  physician.  The  ancestor  of  Sir 
Charles  Bonnet,  who,  wide  awake,  saw  before  him  the  figures 
of  men  and  women,  birds,  ships,  etc.,  is  an  interesting  example. 
It  is  important  to  notice  that  he  did  not,  like  visionaries,  take 
these  visions  for  realities.  He  was  able  to  judge  sanely  of  all 
these  apparitions,  and  correct  his  first  impressions. 

M.  Lclorgne  de  Savigny,  of  the  Institute,  who  was  for  twenty 
years  distressed  by  a  malady  in  which  hallucinations  of  sight 
formed  one  of  the  chief  symptoms,  relates,  as  amongst  the 
most  common  of  his  visions,  "the  scene  of  a  spacious  vault 
built  up  of  innumerable  human  countenances,  all  equally  ex- 
pressive, but  yet,"  he  adds,  "all  having  a  kind  of  inflexibility, 
and  fixing  on  me  malicious  looks."* 

Religious  madmen  and  ecstatics  present  the  most  complex 
examples  of  hallucinations  of  the  sight.  One  of  these  mono- 
maniacs, several  times  under  treatment  at  Bicêtre,  experi- 
enced the  most  varied  visions;  he  saw  future  generations  pass 
before  his  eyes,  and  spread  out  before  him  like  the  most  magni- 
ficent pictures.f 

Visions  often  bear  an  intimate  relation  to  the  actual p)reocc u- 
patio7i  of  mind  of  the  patient.  Thus,  we  see  in  our  dreams  the 
image  of  the  person  who  has  engaged  our  thoughts  during  the 
day.  At  other  times  they  are  the  reproduction  of  vivid  exter- 
nal sensations.  M.  Baillarger  gives  the  following  example, 
taken  from  Pariset's  lectures:  "A  general,  whose  fame  is  known 
throughout  the  world,  was  one  day  unadvisedly  drawn,  during  a 

*  Annales  Medico-Psycho.,  t.  iv.  p.  34. 

t  Histoire  d'un  Fou  guéri  deux  fois  maigre  les  Médecins  et  une  fois 
sans  eux. 


422  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

battle,  into  tlie  midst  of  his  enemies.  Separated  from  his  own 
troops,  and  surrounded  by  adversaries,  he  looked  for  immediate 
death.  He  however  escaped,  but  the  impression  which  his 
danger  left  on  his  mind  was  profound  and  lasting.  Since  then, 
this  general  has  filled  a  throne,  but  he  has  occasionally  expe- 
rienced a  singular  hallucination.  Suddenly,  in  the  midst  of  the 
silence  of  the  palace,  he  has  been  heard  to  utter  violent  excla- 
mations, and  has  been  found  as  in  the  act  of  defending  himself. 
It  has  lasted  but  a  few  moments,  but  it  was  the  scene  of  the 
combat  re-enacted  to  his  sight.  Pariset  adds,  that  this  false 
sensation  decreased  with  the  advance  of  age. 

All  ideas  and  preoccupations  may  be  transformed  into  hallu- 
cinations ;  and,  consequently,  be  as  various  as  the  individuals  ; 
we  will  restrict  ourselves  to  a  few  examples  of  lesions  of  this 
function  of  most  common  recurrence.  There  are  some  halluci- 
nists  who  see  the  police-ofiScers  seeking  for  them.  One,  to 
escape  them,  jumps,  almost  naked,  from  the  window.  Others 
tremble  at  the  sight  of  the  scaftbld,  the  executioner,  and  gen- 
darmes. Melancholy  monomaniacs,  who  imagine  that  they  are 
pursued,  see  none  but  enemies  around  them.  Women  frequently 
have  visions  of  angels  and  devils.  Spectres,  phantoms,  and 
menacing  countenances  appear  very  frequently  in  some  kinds 
of  insanity.  Cats,  dogs,  serpents,  etc.,  are  also  of  frequent 
occurrence.  Cardinal  de  Brienne  asserted  that  his  bed  was 
filled  with  scorpions,  which  attempted  to  devour  him. 

In  erotic  ideas,  the  apparitions  of  angels,  men,  and  beautiful 

women,  are  frequent.     Madame  C sees  four  men  enter  her 

room  every  night,  who  allow  her  no  rest.  Another  thinks  that 
the  young  men  who  enter  her  door  deserve  all  the  punishments 
under  heaven.  In  educated  minds,  hallucinations  may  be  com- 
posed of  subjects  of  study.  Blake,  of  Bedlam,  received  visits 
from  every  great  historical  character.  The  poet  Harrington 
saw  bees,  flies,  and  birds  constantly  exuding  from  his  skin. 
Hallucinists  frequently  have  no  recollection  of  persons  or  things 
which  they  see.  A  man  told  us  that  he  saw  three  strange  men, 
who,  after  making  grimaces  at  him,  climbed  up  the  stove-pipe 
and  disappeared.  Under  some  circumstances  long  processions 
and  figures  of  all  kinds  pass  in  review.  An  old  lady  of  eighty, 
expressed  the  great  pleasure  she  derived  at  the  sight  of  the 
large  company  assembled.     The  thousands  who  composed  it,  in 


PHYSIOLOGY  AND  SYMPTOMATOLOGY  OF  HALLUCINATIONS.      423 

full  dress,  passed  and  repassed  with  their  wives  and  children, 
partaking  of  the  amusements  of  the  fête.  Another  lady  received 
company,  who  played,  took  tea,  and  conducted  themselves  like 
characters  in  real  life. 

Visions  are  frequently  the  painted  reflex  of  the  occupations 
of  the  hallucinated.  A  student  in  theology  insists  that  the  devil 
enters  him  and  takes  up  his  abode  in  his  brain.  A  learned 
Englishman,  Ben  Jonson,  passed  a  whole  night  in  watching  an- 
cient nations  engaged  in  battle  around  his  arm-chair.  Luther 
is  surrounded  with  flaming  torches,  and  fights  against  the  devil, 
who  wears  the  black  gown  of  a  proctor.  Zimmerman  sees  enemies 
everywhere.  Cardan,  whose  son  is  implicated  in  a  plot  which 
will  lead  to  his  death,  is  struck  by  the  sight  of  a  bloody  mark 
on  his  finger,  which  increases  during  fifteen  days.  Ravaillac 
relates  that  he  saw  victims  flying  before  him,  and  found  on  a 
statue  the  head  of  a  Moor  whom  he  had  seen  in  the  studio  of  an 
artist. 

Many  criminals  have  been  pursued  by  the  spectres  of  those 
whom  they  have  assassinated;  some  are  horrified  at  seeing  the 
ghost  of  a  father,  mother,  or  child,  notwithstanding  the  fact 
that  these  beings  are  living  and  present  with  them. 

Hallucinations  of  sight,,  which  reproduce  the  objects  that  are 
the  most  interesting  to,  and  make  the  greatest  impression-  on  the 
multitude,  have  excited  general  attention  in  à  very  high  degree; 
they  are  also  discussed  in  a  number  of  works  under  the  name  of 
visioyis. 

This  belief  in  visions  was  formerly  so  universal,  that  there 
was  neither  castle,  churchyard,  house,  secluded  spot,  or  street 
which  was  not  haunted  by  one.  Everybody  was  the  hero  of  an 
apparition  ;  and  hallucinations,  heretofore  occurring  singly,  ap- 
peared as  an  epidemic  ;  thus,  during  the  plague  in  Néocesarea, 
spectres  were  seen  to  enter  the  houses  ;  likewise  in  Egypt,  in 
the  time  of  the  Emperor  Justinian,  black  men,  without  heads, 
were  seen  to  row  on  th.e  sea  in  boats  of  brass.  During  an  epi- 
demic which  depopulated  Constantinople,  demons  were  seen 
running  from  house  to  house,  and  striking  the  inhabitants  with 
death. 

In  the  consideration  of  177  cases  of  hallucination,  we  found 
the  proportion  as  follows  : — 


424 


ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 


Hallucinations  of  sight      .         .         .*        . 

78 

of  sight  and  hearing  . 

46 

of  hearing 

16 

of  sight,  hearing,  and  touch 

4 

of  sight  and  touch 

8 

of  sight,  hearing,  and  smell 

1 

of  sight,  taste,  and  smell     . 

1 

of  hearing  and  touch  . 

2 

of  smell      .... 

3 

of  taste      .... 

2 

of  smell  and  taste 

1 

of  touch     .... 

9 

of  all  the  senses 

6 

17T 

Out  of  these  177  cases  of  hallucinations,  25  were  combined 
with  illusions. 

According  to  this  abstract,  hallucinations  of  sight  will  be 
found  to  occupy  the  foremost  rank,  those  of  sight  and  hearing 
the  second,  and  those  of  hearing  the  third.* 

The  sensorial  phenomena  of  hallucinations  of  sight  are  more 
interesting  than  those  of  hearing  ;  because  the  images  can  be 
followed  out  in  detail  and  described  with  clearness  and  preci- 
sion. In  the  hallucination  of  the  medical  student  mxCntioned  by 
Chardel,  the  figures  were  bright  as  silver,  the  eyes  had  a  sinister 
expression,  the  robes  were  of  grayish  white  ;  the  ecclesiastic 
who  subsequently  appeared  with  a  book  in  his  left  hand,  was 
pale,  and  full  of  dignity,  etc.  Burdach,  speaking  of  the  fan- 
tastic images  which  precede  sleep,  describes  them  as  "  some- 
times simple  outlines,  sometimes  shadowy  figures  ;  now  the 
images  are  luminous  and  colored,  and  now  appear  light  on  a 
dark  background."  Instead  of  being  thus  clear,  apparitions 
are  indefinite,  confused,  as  if  seen  through  a  gauze  veil  ;  of  a 
whitish  vapory  appearance,  the  shadows  of  a  shade  ;  hence,  evi- 
dently, the  forms  ascribed  to  spectres,  phantoms,  and  spirits  ; 
and  the  reason  of  this  is,  because  the  ideas  being  incompletely 


*  The  statistics  which  we  give  rehite  principally  to  persons  of  sane 
minds. 


PHYSIOLOGY  AND  SYMPTOMATOLOGY  OF  HALLUCINATIONS.       425 

formed  in  the  brain,  are  consequently  but  imperfectly  clothed 
in  their  material  forms. 

To  this  cause  must  be  added  the  influence  of  darkness  and 
silence;  occasionally,  figures  and  objects  are  only  half  formed. 
Hallucinists  see  only  a  portion  of  a  body — the  head,  or  the 
limbs;  sometimes  they  see  it  reversed,  or  divided  in  half. 
Moreover,  an  apparition  may  only  consist  of  an  arm,  a  hand, 
or  an  eye.  A  woman  told  us,  long  since,  that  she  constantly  saw 
a  head  in  profile,  the  eye  of  which  was  always  looking  at  her. 
This  variety  explains  the  stories  told  of  heads  which  haunt 
criminals,  and  of  a  vengeful  eye  ever  gazing  on  a  culprit. 
We  have  given  the  case  of  an  hallucinated  female,  who  saw  her 
eye  leave  its  socket  and  roll  on  before  her.* 

Visual  creations  undergo  motions,  changes  of  dimetision,  and 
transformations  of  form.  Thus  objects  which  appear  fixed, 
begin  to  move  and  increase  indefinitely,  until  they  vanish  into 
distance.  Some,  on  the  contrary,  gradually  shrink  until  they 
appear  to  sink  into  the  earth. 

Mr.  Bayle  mentions  an  old  custom-house  ofiScer,  who  was 
daily  tormented,  at  a  certain  hour,  by  a  very  singular  vision; 
all  at  once  he  would  perceive  a  spider  suspended  from  the  mid- 
dle of  the  ceiling.  He  would  see  it  increase  in  size,  until  it 
completely  filled  the  room,  which  he  was  obliged  to  leave,  in 
order  to  avoid  being  stifled  by  this  horrible  and  gigantic  animal. 
He  recognized  an  optical  delusion,  but  could  not  surmount  the 
horror  with  which  it  inspired  him. 

Hallucination,  most  usually,  appears  suddenly  ;  it  may  dis- 
appear in  like  manner  or  persist  for  a  certain  time.  "A  lady," 
says  Mathey,  "on  returning  home  one  evening,  saw  a  man  in 
her  room,  who  fled  and  disappeared  through  a  closed  door."  The 
case  of  Nicolai,  already  described,  contains  curious  details  of 
the  gradual  disappearance  of  the  images.  The  figures  began  to 
move  more  slowly,  they  then  became  paler,  then  vapory,  and, 
finally,  dissolved  into  air.  The  spectre  seen  by  Spinosa,  in  his 
retreat  at  Rhinbourg,  disappeared  thus  gradually,  its  colors 
growing   weaker  around  the  head  of  the  philosopher."}"      The 

*  Theologians  bave  termed  apparition  a  false  perception  of  an  object 
vaguely  known  ;  and  vision  that  in  which  the  object  is  clearly  manifested. 
— Le  Cardinal  Bona,  Du  Discernement  des  FJsprits.  trad.  Franc,  p.  075. 

t  Opera  Posthuma,  epist.  xxx.,  Petro  Balling,  pp.  471-472. 


426  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

duration  of  false  visual  sensations  varies  considerably.  In  some 
cases  it  only  lasts  a  few  minutes,  whilst  in  others  the  same 
image  has  been  visible  for  twenty-four  hours  or  longer.  Hallu- 
cinations may  supervene,  almost  at  the  same  time,  with  general 
delirium,  and  also  cease  with  it.  This  disposition,  according  to 
M.  Lelut,  occurs  principally  with  young  subjects,  of  a  sanguine 
temperament  and  a  lively  and  excitable  disposition. 

Although  night,  darkness,  and  silence  are  favorable  to  the 
production  of  visions,  certain  individuals  have  them  indifferently 
by  day  or  night.  Objects  may  disappear  on  closing  the  eyes, 
and  appear  again  on  reopening  them.  With  some  exceptions, 
visions  only  occur  during  the  day,  and  darkness,  far  from  favor- 
ing them,  makes  them,  on  the  contrary,  disappear.  But  there 
are  also  some  in  whom  they  occur  with  eyes  either  open  or 
closed. 

The  images  which  appear  to  the  hallucinists  usually  confront 
them,  but  in  some  instances  they  are  by  their  sides.  The 
distance  at  which  they  are  seen  varies  curiously.  The  skeleton 
head  mentioned  by  Sir  Walter  Scott,  appeared  at  the  foot  of 
the  bed. 

Sometimes  the  position  of  the  image  changes  with  the  direc- 
tion of  the  sight.  The  physiologist  Bostock  says  that  appari- 
tion? always  follow  the  movement  of  the  eyes.  Many  cases  seem 
to  prove  that  the  intervention  of  an  opaque  body  may  conceal 
the  fancied  image.  The  celebrated  English  artist,  Martin,  saw, 
it  is  said,  beforehand,  and  by  a  real  hallucination,  the  pictures 
whose  plan  and  composition  he  had  not  yet  even  contemplated. 

Science  offers  many  analogous  cases  ;  but  it  is  more  usual  to 
find  fantastic  images  conceal  external  objects  from  the  sight  of 
the  diseased  person.  The  German  physiologist,  Gruthuisen, 
says  he  is  perfectly  sure  that  floating  images  entirely  hid  the 
furniture  of  the  room  from  his  sight. 

Hallucinations  of  sight  occur  less  frequently  with  the  blind 
than  do  those  of  hearing  with  the  deaf.  Nevertheless,  science 
is  in  possession  of  several  examples,  and  in  our  own  practice  we 
have  noticed  three.  We  have  mentioned  that  of  the  celebrated 
Niebuhr,  who  described  to  his  friends  all  the  various  scenes 
which  he  had  formerly  seen  in  his  travels  ;  whilst  he  spoke, 
they  rose  up  before  him  in  all  the  coloring,  animation,  and 
splendor  of  nature.     An  old  lady,  of  eighty-two  years,  saw  a 


PHYSIOLOGY  AND  SYMPTOMATOLOGY  OF  HALLUCINATIONS.      427 

considerable  number  of  persons  enter  her  room  daily  ;  she  had 
the  door  and  window  opened  in  order  that  they  might  pass  out. 
In  the  private  hospital  of  my  daughter,  Madame  Rivet,  is  a 
person  blind,  deaf,  and  dumb,  who  both  sees  and  hears. 

Hallucinations  of  smell,  taste,  and  touch  are  simpler  than 
those  which  we  have  just  examined.  They  are  only  the  repro- 
duction of  a  sensorial  impression.  It  is  very  dij3ficult  to  dis- 
tinguish them  from  illusions. 

Some  individuals  who  experience  hallucinations  of  smell,  think 
they  inhale  the  most  exquisite  perfumes  ;  others,  again,  com- 
plain that  they  are  poisoned  by  mephitic  and  pestilential  odors. 
The  appearance  of  holy  personages  fills  the  room  with  the  most 
delicious  scents,  whilst  that  of  demons  leaves  sulphuric  and 
noisome  exhalations.  A  madman,  who  had  sinned  against  good 
morals,  complained  that  the  devil  had  enveloped  him  in  a  cloud 
of  sulphur.  M.  Baillarger  knew  a  lady  who  was  continually 
distressed  by  an  infectious  odor  which  she  believed  to  emanate 
from  herself.  One  day  that  Esquirol  invited  her  to  walk  in  the 
garden,  she  refused,  fearing,  as  she  said,  that  all  the  plants 
would  be  killed  by  the  scent  from  her  person. 

To  these  hallucinations,  and  this  species  of  delirium,  may  be 
referred  what  Don  Calmet  relates  of  certain  men,  "who  damaged 
all  they  looked  upon,  even  to  the  breasts  of  the  nurses,  whose 
milk  they  dried  up  ;  the  plants,  flowers,  and  leaves  of  the  trees, 
which  fell  off  and  died  on  their  approach  ;  so  that  they  dared  not 
enter  any  place  without  first  giving  notice,  in  order  that  children, 
nurses,  young  animals,  and  everything  which  their  looks  could 
infect,  should  be  removed."*  In  proportion  as  we  progress  in  the 
study  of  this  singular  affection,  do  we  account  for  a  host  of 
historical  documents,  which  the  ignorant  skepticism  of  the 
eighteenth  century  has  ranked  amongst  fables. 

Hallucinations  of  taste  are  likewise  rare  ;  they  are  generally 
observed  at  the  commencement  of  insanity,  and  during  its  most 
active  period.  Cases  in  which  they  exist  alone,  in  a  chronic 
state  are  very  unusual.  Such  persons  believe  they  are  partaking 
of  excellent  viands  and  drinking  delicious  wines,  although  they 
have  really  nothing.  Others  complain  of  having  detestable 
food,  tasting  of  verdigris.     Illusions  of  taste  are  more  frequent. 

*  Traité  sur  les  Apparitions,  t.  i.  p.  463. 


428  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

The  insane  lick  the  walls,  believing  them  to  be  sugar  ;  thej  eat 
gravel,  earth,  and  dirt,  and  maintain  that  they  are  of  excellent 
flavor.  The  difficulty  of  distinguishing  these  lesions  of  sensi- 
bility, above  all  in  mania,  explains  the  reason  why  they  have 
hitherto  been  slightly  noticed.  It  is  also  frequently  difficult  to 
distinguish  hallucinations  of  touch  from  illusions.  One  of  the 
most  common  forms  is  that  caused  by  imaginary  electric,  galvanic, 
and  pneumatic  machines,  and  by  physics  and  chemistry.  The 
patients  complain  of  being  experimented  on,  professing  that 
they  have  received  electric  discharges,  have  been  pierced, 
pinched,  beaten,  and  whipped. 

Mathews,  mentioned  by  Haslam,  professed  to  be  under  the 
control  of  a  set  of  wretches,  who,  by  means  of  an  ingenious  ma- 
chine, of  which  he  gave  a  description  and  drawing,  put  him  to 
insufferable  torture.  Some  feel  themselves  pierced  with  nails, 
and  lacerated;  others  affirm  that  they  are  being  suffocated,  that 
persons  and  animals  are  walking  over  them,  that  they  are  thrown 
down,  and  half  killed  with  blows.  This  peculiarity  should  be 
generally  known,  as  such  an  assertion  on  the  part  of  the  patients 
has  frequently  imposed  on  their  relatives. 

The  impression  of  touch  is  very  frequent  in  females.  One 
young  lady  affirms  that  she  is  nightly  flogged  until  blood  flows. 
Another,  somewhat  advanced,  complains  to  us,  with  great  indig- 
nation, that  she  is  very  ill  treated. 

Sorcerers  affirm  that  they  were  often  struck  by  the  devil,  who 
thrashed  them  soundly  ;  they  ate  and  drank  at  very  splendid 
feasts.  Many  remarked  that  these  repasts  did  not  nourish  them, 
for  they  felt  as  hungry  as  before.  One  of  my  patients,  a  de- 
ranged paralytic,  complained  to  me  that  every  night  his  feet 
were  burned.  Two  others  were  continually  moving  from  place 
to  place,  to  escape  the  wind  that  was  blowing  on  their  legs  ;  and 
Ravaillac  felt  a  figure  jumping  on  his  body. 

The  sensation  of  being  detained  by  invisible  hands,  and  in 
females,  of  being  sucked,  should  also  be  mentioned.  Some  of 
the  insane  complain  that,  during  the  night,  all  their  blood  is 
pumped  out  by  frightful  figures,  who  suck  them. 

It  cannot  be  disputed  that  these  different  cases  of  hallucina- 
tion, above  all  those  affecting  the  ^en^QS  generally,  maybe  iden- 
tified so  closely  with  illusions  that  it  is  almost  impossible  to 
separate  them  ;  but  in  other  cases,  it  is  acknowledged  that  the 


PHYSIOLOGY  AND  SYMPTOMATOLOGY  OF  HALLUCINATIONS.      429 

sensations  of  hypochondriacs  appear  evidently  to  arise  in  the 
brain,  and  may,  by  concentration  of  thought,  act  on  its  organs, 
and  cause  nervous  disorders.  Some  insane  persons  think  their 
heads  so  light  that  they  must  be  empty,  or  so  heavy  that  they 
seem  filled  with  lead. 

From  close  observation,  it  seems  to  be  decided  that  halluci- 
nations are  rarely  confined  to  one  sense  ;  in  recognizing  the 
truth  of  this  fact,  on  which  M.  Foville  particularly  insists,  we 
may  add  that,  in  general,  hallucinations  of  one  sense  prevail 
greatly  over  the  others.  It  is  chiefly  in  acute  diseases  that  the 
union  of  several  hallucinations  takes  place. 

Hallucinations  of  the  difi"crent  senses  often  occur  in  conjunc- 
tions of  two  or  three.  Dr.  Pressât  remarked  that  false  senso- 
rial sensations  succeeded  each  other  in  the  same  patient  in  the 
following  order  :  Hallucinations  of  sight  or  hearing,  of  smell, 
then  of  taste  and  touch,  "so  that,"  said  he,  "the  last  have 
always  brought  in  their  train  those  of  the  preceding  sense  ;  thus 
hallucination  of  smell  is  also  that  of  sight  and  hearing  ;  general 
hallucination  of  touch  is  also  that  of  sight,  hearing,  smell,  and 
taste,  at  the  same  time. 

When  hallucinations  of  several  senses  exist,  they  are  ordi- 
narily intimately  connected  ;  as  may  be  remarked  in  the  case  of 
the  patient  who  licked  the  walls  because  they  appeared  to  him 
to  be  covered  with  delicious  oranges,  at  the  same  time  that  he 
inhaled  their  odor  and  tasted  the  fruit. 

Hallucinations  of  several  senses  sometimes  reproduce  vivid 
anterior  sensations,  which  had  occurred  simultaneously.  On 
this  point,  M.  Baillarger  mentions  a  woman  on  whose  head  a 
flower-pot  fell,  and  who  directly  afterwards  heard  the  noise  it 
made  in  being  shattered  on  the  pavement.  Subsequently, 
twenty  times  a  day,  she  felt  the  same  blow,  and  heard  the  same 
sound. 

Association  of  ideas  explains,  in  an  infinity  of  cases,  the 
simultaneous  existence  of  hallucinations  of  several  senses. 

The  psychical  hallucinations  of  M.  Baillarger,  of  which  we 
are  about  to  point  out  the  principal  characteristics,  have  been 
severely  criticized  by  M.  Michéa,  who  has  termed  them  false 
hallucinations.  "  It  is,"  he  says,  "  a  strange  error,  to  make  the 
study  of  dreams  a  basis  on  which  to  build  two  kinds  of  halluci- 
nations.    All  fantastic  perceptions  occurring  to  a  man  in  sleep. 


430  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

are  to  him  as  realities.  To  admit  of  hallucinations  stripped  of 
their  appearance  of  objectivity,  words  without  sound,  images 
without  form  and  color,  is  to  confuse  all  psychological  forms. 
Hallucination  implies  always  and  necessarily  the  appearance  of 
an  external  object,  a  concrete  phenomenon,  a  material  reality."* 
According  to  M.  Michéa,  a  false  hallucination  is  the  form  which 
serves  as  a  direct  transition  to  sensorial  illusion,  as  the  latter  is 
the  form  which  immediately  precedes  real  hallucination. f 

We  will  not  repeat  the  arguments  of  M.  De  Chambre,  nor  our 
own,  on  the  absence  of  proper  proofs,  to  establish  the  interven- 
tion of  the  senses  in  hallucinations;  once  again,  according  to 
our  view,  in  the  two  kinds  of  hallucinations  mentioned  by  Mens. 
Baillarger,  there  is  only  a  difference  in  intensity  and  degree  ; 
but  viewed  psychologically,  the  study  of  hallucinations  termed 
psychical,  which  are  almost  entirely  formed  by  perceptions  of 
hearing,  present  several  very  important  points  of  observation. 
To  them,  in  fact,  may  be  traced  several  singular  conditions  of. 
the  mystics.  The  Lettres  Spirituelles  sur  V  Oraison  furnish  us 
with  useful  information  on  this  subject.  They  admit  of  intel- 
lectual and  corporeal  visions,  internal  and  external  voices  and 
sentences,  odors  and  tastes,  which  sometimes  affect  the  mind,  at 
others,  the  sensorial  organs.  Of  the  voices,  some  are  intellectual, 
and  created  in  the  interior  of  the  mind;  others  corporeal,  and 
strike  the  external  ears  of  the  body.  Thus  the  division  proposed 
by  Mons.  Baillarger,  does  not,  according  to  this  author,  present 
anything  new;  it  is  that  of  mystic  authors.  Hq  iQvm^  psychical 
hallucinations,  visions  and  intellectual  locutions;  and  psycho- 
sensorial  hallucinations  he  terms  visions  and  corporeal  locutions. 
As  proofs,  in  support  of  his  opinion,  this  physician  remarks  that 
hallucinations,  in  dreams,  are  generally  psychical  ;  no  sensorial 
impression  is  preserved  on  awaking.  At  other  times,  on  the 
contrary,  the  direction  of  the  voice,  and  its  strength,  is  recol- 
lected. A  sensation  of  smoke,  pressure,  and  blows  remains. 
There  are  patients  who  hear  a  thought  at  a  distance,  and  fre- 
quently assert  that  they  can  converse  mentally  with  those  who 
surround  them.  They  answer  questions,  which  they  imagine  to 
be  addressed  to  them,  without  a  single  word  having  been  uttered. 

*  Michéa,  o]).  cit.  p.  102,  et  seq. 
t  Psycho-sensorial  hallucination. 


PHYSIOLOGY  AND  SYMPTOMATOLOGY  OF  HALLUCINATIONS.      431 

Leuret  relates,  in  his  Fragynens  Psychologiques  sur  la  Folie^ 
that  Friar  Gilles,  disciple  of  Saint  François,  and  Saint  Louis 
the  King,  conversed  a  long  time  with  extreme  consolation  of 
mind,  and  without  the  aid  of  words,  which,  says  Friar  Gilles, 
would  moRe  have  impeded  than  assisted  us,  by  reason  of  the 
sweet  peace  which  our  souls  experienced. 

Patients  of  this  class  pretend  that  there  are  invisible  interro- 
gators within  them,  who  speak  with  them,  in  thought,  mind  to 
mind,  by  intuition,  magnetism,  and  idea;  they  hear  internal 
voices.  On  this  subject,  the  very  curious  case  of  Noël,  detailed 
by  Cazauvielh,  may  be  consulted.* 

An  insane  woman,  in  the  Saltpétrière,  always  replied  to  the 
questions  addressed  to  her  by  Dr.  Leuret  ;  when  the  physician 
ceased  speaking,  she  continued  the  conversation,  and  gave  an- 
swers to  fresh  questions  which  she  imagined  were  addressed  to 
her,  but  which  had  no  connection  with  each  other.  "To  whom 
are  you  talking?"  inquired  Leuret;  "I  am  not  speaking  to 
you." — "I  hear,"  she  replied,  "your  thoughts,  and  I  do  not 
know  why."    A  reply  exactly  similar  to  that  of  the  seer,  Blake. 

The  cases  in  which  the  hallucinated  hear  voices  in  the  epigas- 
trium, and  receive  communications  by  a  sixth  sense,  still  appear 
to  belong  to  the  same  class.  Sometimes  it  is  not  in  the  epigas- 
trium alone  that  a  part  of  their  thoughts  seem  to  dwell  ;  it 
appears  to  them  that  their  entire  minds  are  exercised  on  the 
point.  Van  Helmont  experienced  this  under  the  influence  of 
the  poisonous  action  of  aconite. 

Finally,  it  is  necessary  to  remark  that  patients  sometimes  use 
the  word  voice,  for  want  of  another  expression,  to  convey  their 
feelings. 

Independently  of  the  phenomena  peculiar  to  each  sense, 
there  exist  others  common  to  the  whole  group. 

Creneral  Symptoms. — In  the  study  of  hallucinations,  a  fact  is 
revealed  which  appears  specially  to  belong  to  insanity.  The 
man  who  perceives  the  first  dawnings  of  hallucination  has  often 
the  power  to  conceal  it;  so  that  it  is  only  when  the  evil  has 
burst  forth  that  he  is  constrained  to  acknowledge  it.  Psycho- 
logical researches  of  the  highest  interest  might  be  made  of  the 
method  in  which  a  false  idea,  at  first  slight  and  fugitive,  tra- 

*  Du  Suicide  et  de  l'Aliénation  mentale  dans  les  Campagnes,  p.  IGG. 


432  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

verses  the  brain  like  lightning,  to  reappear  at  some  moment  when 
least  expected.  It  would  be  very  curious  to  examine  how  this 
impalpable  idea,  whose  existence  is  only  indicated  by  the  asso- 
ciations which  it  calls  forth,  is  colored,  pictured,  and,  finally, 
assumes  a  body,  which  places  itself  before  its  victim,  and  pur- 
sues him  everywhere  like  his  shadow.  When  the  hallucination 
occurs  in  this  manner,  before  insanity  is  discovered  by  parents 
or  friends,  who  perceive  no  disorder  either  in  words  or  actions, 
then,  most  frequently,  a  change  is  observed  in  the  conduct  and 
affections  of  the  party  attacked.  Hallucinations  may  have  no 
influence  on  the  conduct,  either  because  the  individual  is  conscious 
of  the  morbid  phenomena  which  he  experiences,  or  that  he  does 
not  allow  his  actions  to  be  influenced  by  them.  This  state  is 
sometimes  greatly  prolonged,  and  is  in  nowise  incompatible 
with  the  free  exercise  of  reason. 

When  the  sufi"erer  has  once  yielded  to  the  power  of  the  hal- 
lucination, his  conviction  in  its  reality  is  profound  ;  nothing  can 
persuade  him  that  it  is  a  sensorial  error.  Some  cases,  indeed, 
are  quoted  in  contradiction  of  this  doctrine  ;  but,  whilst  we  ad- 
mit such,  we  look  on  them  as  exceptions.  It  is  to  the  firm 
persuasion  which  the  hallucinated  have  of  the  existence  of  their 
visions,  that  the  heroic  patience  with  Avhich  sorcerers  supported 
the  tortures  imposed  by  their  ignorant  judges  must  be  attri- 
buted. The  gift  once  accepted,  it  was  to  them  what  the  philo- 
sophic idea  was  to  Savanarole,  Campanella,  Vanini,  and  so 
many  others  who  died  in  its  defence  on  the  scafi'old.  Perhaps, 
also,  this  deep  conviction  may  be  attributed  to  the  remark  they 
would  naturally  make,  that  they  could  judge  of  real  objects  as 
correctly  as  other  men.  This  rule  is  not  without  exception,  for 
there  are  some  hallucinated  persons  who  are  conscious  that  they 
are  delirious,  and  are  aware  that  their  sensations  are  false,  and 
this  conviction  is  even  mingled  in  the  hallucinations  of  their 
dreams. 

The  hallucination  which,  under  some  circumstances,  has  shown 
itself  as  a  predominant  symptom,  may  be  marked  or  enfeebled 
by  other  forms  of  mental  alienation,  or  may  reappear,  and  exist 
after  the  termination  of  the  malady. 

One  of  the  most  decisive  symptoms  is  to  see  a  patient  in  the 
midst  of  a  walk,  or  an  animated  conversation,  suddenly  stop, 
listen,  even  move   aside  to  reply  to  the  voice  which  questions 


PHYSIOLOGY  AND  SYMPTOMATOLOGY  OF  HALLUCINATIONS.      433 

him,  to  look  at  the  object  presented,  to  inhale  odors,  taste  food, 
or  become  irritated  by  blows.  "Whilst  I  am  writing,  I  observe 
one  who  has  kept  silence  for  two  years,  but  whose  pantomime  is 
most  expressive  ;  he  questions,  replies,  accuses,  defends  himself, 
and  addresses  reproaches.  His  conversation  with  imaginary 
beings  are  very  frequent.  Esquirol  suggested  that  these  symp- 
toms may  be  noticed  in  all  insane  persons  ;  but,  he  adds,  that 
individuals  who,  prior  to  the  malady,  were  ruled  by  passion  or 
exposed  to  powerful  struggles  of  mind,  are  more  liable  to  them 
than  others,  above  all  if  they  have  applied  to  abstruse  and 
speculative  studies.  We  see  patients  daily  who  gesticulate,  talk 
with  imaginary  beings,  and  appear  very  much  absorbed  in  lis- 
tening to  them,  so  that  this  disposition  appears  to  us  rather 
applicable  to  the  major  part  of  the  hallucinated,  than  to  a  par- 
ticular section. 

The  different  forms  of  alienation  impress  their  character  on 
hallucinations.  In  lypemania,  the  apparitions,  voices,  odors, 
etc.,  are  most  usually  those  of  wretched-looking  figures,  mon- 
sters, menacing  words,  which  excite  to  evil,  and  mephitic  ema- 
nations. If  the  insanity  leans  particularly  towards  religious 
subjects,  then  the  patients  see  devils  or  angels.  In  erotomania, 
they  are  handsome  youths  or  beautiful  girls.  When  suicidal 
and  homicidal  monomania  prevail,  they  then  hear  voices  exciting 
them  either  to  kill  themselves  or  others.  In  general,  the  hallu- 
cinations of  monomania  vary  but  little,  and  are  observed  long 
after  the  outbreak  of  the  malady.  In  the  melancholy  form,  the 
cerebral  disorder  sometimes  commences  with  an  hallucination, 
but  most  frequently  the  monomania  is  developed  by  a  passion, 
an  exclusive  idea  to  which  hallucination  unites  itself;  and  results 
in  a  personification  of  that  idea  which  augments  still  more  the 
conviction  of  the  alienated.  In  stupidity,  hallucination  is  pre- 
monitory, and  frequently  accompanied  by  mental  alienation. 

Hallucinations  are  also  of  frequent  occurrence  in  mania  ;  but 
they  are  not  so  fixed  as  in  the  preceding  kind.  They  vary  with 
the  ideas  of  the  maniac,  or  if  they  appear  beneath  the  torrent 
of  ideas  and  of  sensations  which  his  brain  continually  creates, 
they  are  weakened,  or  at  least  in  a  great  degree  masked.  "  Hal- 
lucinations," says  M.  Aubanel,  "  sometimes  announce  the  com- 
mencement of  mania;  they  are  fugitive,  numerous,  and  capri- 
cious ;  much  more  frequently,  maniacal  delirium  gives  rise  to 
28 


434  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

hallucinations,  -which  in  mania  are  sometimes  the  last  symptom. 
The  patient  is  calm  and  rational,  yet  he  hears  voices.  They 
may  continue  for  several  days  in  individuals  whose  reason  is 
entirely  restored.  Hallucinations  are  less  common  with  maniacs 
than  illusions  of  the  senses.  This  sensorial  aberration  explains 
why  certain  maniacs  eat  filth,  and  resist  intense  cold,  etc." 

Hallucinations  may  exist  with  acute  dementia,  but  they  are 
rare  and  slight.  Dementia  appears  less  favorable  to  their  ex- 
istence and  duration  than  the  two  preceding  forms.  In  fact,  it 
seems  that  hallucinations,  being  occasioned  by  an  exaltation  of 
the  faculties,  can  only  be  transitory  in  the  demented.  This 
theory  is  not  entirely  supported  by  observation.  We  have  already 
remarked  that  many  hallucinations  in  this  kind  of  madness  have 
been  described,  the  degrees  of  which  are  infinite,  and  present, 
moreover,  two  important  varieties — monomaniac  and  maniac  de- 
mentia. In  paralytic  dementia,  these  false  sensations  are  rare; 
and  authors  have  asserted  that  they  never  occur  but  in  the  first 
period  of  that  disease.  "  Never"  is  a  word  no  truer  in  medicine 
than  in  politics.  For  twelve  months  I  attended  a  paralytic 
patient,  who  hardly  spoke,  could  scarcely  walk,  and  yet  who  fre- 
quently saw  a  shark  ready  to  devour  him.  When  his  terror 
reached  its  climax,  his  tongue  was  loosened,  he  uttered  terrible 
shrieks  whilst  speaking  of  the  shark,  threw  himself  back,  and 
would  have  leaped  out  of  bed,  if  his  strength  had  permitted  it. 

Esquirol  says  that  hallucinations  are  usually  the  lot  of  weak 
minds.  Certainly,  errors  of  sensation  are  remarked  in  indi- 
viduals of  very  ordinary  intellect,  but  they  are  equally  observed 
in  men  of  highly  cultivated  minds.  Amongst  the  hundreds  of 
insane  who  have  come  under  our  notice  since  we  first  attended 
to  this  branch  of  pathology,  these  two  classes  have  been  pretty 
equal  in  number  ;  and  it  has  long  since  been  remarked  that  men 
the  most  celebrated  for  capacity,  depth  of  reasoning,  and 
strength  of  mind  were  not  exempt  from  this  symptom.  The 
Lives  of  Plutarch,  in  which  he  speaks  of  the  phantoms  of  Bru- 
tus, Dion,  Cassius,  etc.,  refute  this  opinion. 

There  is  one  symptom  of  hallucination  of  high  interest,  on 
account  of  the  serious  consequences  that  may  result  from  it. 
Apparitions  and  voices  often  act  only  negatively  on  the  insane  ; 
but  they  are  also  frequently  the  origin,  by  their  counsels, 
menaces,  and  the  terror  they  inspire,  of  strange  actions,  and 


PHYSIOLOGY  AND  SYMPTOMATOLOGY  OF  HALLUCINATIONS.      435 

singular  and  sudden  resolutions.  Thus  the  afflicted  of  this 
class  prostrate  themselves  on  the  ground,  or  throw  their  arms 
around  the  neck  of  some  person  because  God  has  commanded 
them  to  embrace  him,  offer  insults,  utter  sharp  words,  challenge, 
strike,  and  wound,  or  fixedly  look  on  the  skj,  the  sun,  etc. 
These  acts  may  have  dangerous  consequences,  and  lead  to  sui- 
cide, theft,  murder,  or  arson. 

These  hallucinists  give  no  truce  to  those  whom  the  creations 
of  their  brain  have  once  marked  out  for  destruction.  A  man  de- 
stroyed his  child,  because  he  continually  heard  an  angel  com- 
manding him  to  repeat  the  sacrifice  of  Abraham.  "  An  insane 
person  of  our  establishment,"  says  M.  Guislain,  "asserts  that 
invisible  persons  speak  to  him;  some  accuse  him  of  murder,  and 
announce  the  death  of  his  mother,  whilst  others  defend  him. 
Happily,  the  patient  is  perfectly  aware  of  his  condition,  and 
speaks  of  the  strangeness  of  his  ideas,  for  which  he  cannot 
account." 

A  deranged  man  hears  a  voice,  which  he  obeys,  ordering  him 
to  mutilate  himself;  and  a  girl  obeys  a  voice  which  commands 
her  to  murder  her  child. 

We  cannot  too  much  insist  on  the  frequency  of  hallucinations 
which  make  the  alienated  believe  that  they  are  abused,  mocked, 
and  threatened.  "  They  are  incessantly  calling  me  thief,  assas- 
sin," said  an  hallucinated  person  to  me  one  day.  "Who  calls 
you  so?"  "  They.''  But,  like  the  greater  number  of  those 
belonging  to  this  class,  he  could  not  point  out  any  one.  Some 
hear  agreeable  words,  conformable  to  their  wishes  ;  others  hear 
menacing  language.  A  young  English  lady  converses  every 
day  with  several  of  her  countrywomen.  Madame  C.  has  long 
conversations  with  the  angel  Raphael.  Numa  talked  with  the 
nymph  Egeria,  Mohammed  with  the  angel  Gabriel,  Luther  with 
the  devil,  Charles  IX.  heard  in  the  night  the  shrieks  of  the 
victims  of  St.  Bartholomew.  An  old  musician  was  constantly 
surrounded  by  the  harmony  of  instruments. 

The  circulating  and  digestive  functions,  sleep,  and  secretions, 
present  changes  which  should  be  noticed.  Messrs.  Leuret  and 
Mitivié  have  described,  in  their  pamphlet  on  The  Rapid  Pulse 
of  the  Alienated,  that  under  this  form  of  delirium  the  greatest 
disorder  in  the  circulation  was  observable.  In  fifty  cases,  they 
have  reckoned  ninety-five  pulsations  in  the  minute.     Does  this 


436  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

quickness  of  the  pulse  belong  to  diseases  of  the  heart,  which 
are,  according  to  Messrs.  Nasse  and  Foville,  very  common  with 
the  alienated?  Might  it  not  also  be  the  result  of  sleeplessness, 
so  usual  a  symptom,  or  to  the  agitation  caused  by  visions  and 
voices,  constant  incitements  to  anger,  rage,  vociferations,  or  other 
kinds  of  emotion? 

At  first  the  digestive  organs  may  be  deranged,  when  cepha- 
lalgia and  fever  exist  ;  but  they  are  chiefly  so  afi"ected  when  the 
idea  of  the  hallucinated  person  is  of  a  mournful  character,  when 
he  fears  the  agents  of  public  justice,  and  gendarmes,  and  is 
constantly  beset  by  constables,  or  when  he  refuses  food;  the 
result  of  these  prolonged  fastings  is  manifested  by  serious  dis- 
orders in  the  stomach  and  intestines.  Constipation  exists  as  in 
madness.  The  fear  of  poison  acts  equally  in  impairing  the  diges- 
tive organs. 

The  sleep  of  the  hallucinated  is  generally  short,  and  almost 
always  disturbed.  Uneasiness  and  the  distress  which  many 
persons  feel  in  the  dark,  are  greatly  increased  by  apparitions. 
When  these  are  of  a  terrible  character,  and  the  voices  are 
threatening,  the  sufi'erers  cannot  enjoy  a  moment  of  repose  ; 
they  shriek,  fight,  and  exhibit  evidences  of  a  fearful  conflict. 
When  the  cries  of  an  insane  person  are  heard  in  the  silence  of 
the  night,  it  is  certain  that  they  are  visited  by  hallucinations. 

Disordered  secretions  ofi"er  nothing  particular  ;  occurring  as 
they  do  in  mental  maladies,  without  being  combined  with  hallu- 
cinations, they  may  be  referred  to  those  kinds  of  diseases. 

Inquiries  have  latterly  been  instituted  as  to  the  time  most 
favorable  for  the  existence  of  hallucinations.  Observation  proves 
them  to  be  most  common  in  the  evening,  at  night,  and  on  going 
to  rest,  and  that  they  obey  a  natural  law,  by  which  mournful 
ideas,  uneasiness,  fear,  and  terror  are  increased  by  solitude  and 
darkness.  But,  although  the  greater  number  of  hallucinations 
take  place  at  night,  many  likewise  occur  during  the  day.  We 
subjoin  our  observations  on  144  cases. 

62  times  hallucinations  occurred  at  night, 

60     "  "  "         during  the  day, 

32     "  "  "         by  day  and  night. 

The  nature  of  the  hallucinations  does  not  appear  especially  to 
influence  the  period  of  their  appearing. 


PHYSIOLOGY  AND  SYMPTOMATOLOGY  OF  HALLUCINATIONS.      437 

It  has,  however,  been  noticed  that  some  kinds  of  hallucina- 
tions appear  indifferently  day  and  night,  asleep  or  awake,  whilst 
others  only  come  in  the  night. 

M.  Baillarger,  in  a  memoir  presented  to  the  Royal  Academy 
of  Medicine,*  entered  into  more  circumstantial  details,  which 
we  proceed  to  quote.  Many  of  his  deductions  are  verified  by 
cases  contained  in  this  work. 

1.  The  transition  from  sleep  to  waking,  and  from  waking  to 
sleep,  exerts  a  positive  influence  on  the  production  of  hallucina- 
tions on  subjects  predisposed  to  insanity,  previous  to,  in  the 
commencement  of,  and  during  the  progress  of  this  malady. f 

2.  The  mere  act  of  lowering  the  eyelids  is  sufficient  with  some 
subjects,  and  even  during  their  waking  hours,  to  produce  hallu- 
cinations of  sight. 

3.  Hallucinations  occurring  in  the  intermediate  state  between 
waking  and  sleeping,  howsoever  short  of  duration,  become  most 
usually  continued,  and  excite  delirium. 

4.  Madness,  in  subjects  already  attacked  by  hallucinations 
at  the  moment  of  sleep,  is  quickly,  and  from  its  commencement, 
characterized  by  hallucinations. 

5.  Hallucinations  occurring  whilst  awake,  frequently  become 
stronger  at  the  moments  of  falling  asleep  and  of  awaking. 

6.  A  fit  of  mania  may  follow  immediately,  and  from  the  first 
access,  hallucinations  produced  at  the  moment  of  falling  asleep 
and  of  awaking. 

7.  Hallucinations  of  one  sense  occurring  during  waking  hours, 
those  of  another  sense  may  be  produced  at  the  moment  of  fall- 
ing asleep. 

8.  The  transition  from  waking  to  sleeping  has  much  greater 
influence  on  the  production  of  hallucinations,  than  the  transition 
from  sleeping  to  waking. 

9.  It  is  frequently  after  the  suppression  of  a  hemorrhage 
which  has  produced  symptoms  of  congestion  towards  the  head, 
that  hallucinations  have  been  produced  at  the  moment  of  sleep. 

10.  The  influence  of  the  transition  from  waking  to  sleeping 
in  the  production  of  hallucinations,  proves  that  at  least  in  cer- 

*  Séance  du  24  Mai,  1842.  Mémoires  de  l'Académie  Royale  de  Médecine, 
t.  xii.  p.  476. 

t  This  fact  has  already  been  noticed  by  Meister,  in  his  Lettre  sur  l'Ima- 
gination. 


438  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

tain  cases,  it  is  a  phenomenon  purely  physical,  and  demands 
purely  physical  treatment. 

11.  Hallucinations  occurring  in  the  intermediate  state  he- 
tween  waking  and  sleeping,  above  all  in  subjects  predisposed  to 
insanity,  or  who  have  already  been  deranged,  are  often  the 
indications  of  impending  delirium. 

12.  Hallucinations  which  precede  sleep,  and  from  their  first 
appearance  continue  during  several  hours,  are  a  cause  of  tran- 
sient madness;  and  may  excuse  acts  committed  during  the  night 
by  a  subject  who  on  the  following  day  will  be  of  perfectly  sound 
mind. 

Hallucinations  in  Breams. — All  the  symptoms  which  we  have 
enumerated  may  be  reproduced  in  dreams  ;  but,  by  reason  of  the 
nature  of  the  impressions,  they  are  often  less  vivid.  False 
sensations  do  not  always  cease  immediately  on  awaking  in  sane 
individuals,  only  they  disappear  in  a  longer  or  shorter  time, 
whilst  with  deranged  persons  they  continue. 

The  action  of  thought  may  be  pursued  in  dreams,  and  events 
long  passed  be  reproduced,  works  may  be  completed,  and  new 
combinations  take  place.  The  hallucination  of  a  dream  possesses 
at  times  a  more  astonishing  character,  since  it  appears  to  an- 
nounce an  event  which  is  passing  at  the  moment  ;  the  best 
explanation  which  can  be  given  of  this  phenomenon  is,  that  the 
preoccupations  of  the  day  have  not  been  interrupted  by  sleep. 

Hallucinations  in  dreams  are  often  characterized  by  the  pre- 
sence of  an  incubus.  This  phenomenon  was  formerly  very  com- 
mon in  nocturnal  hallucinations. 

The  hallucinations  of  sorcerers,  in  the  Middle  Ages,  were  very 
often  universal  ;  they  saw,  heard,  felt,  smelt,  and  tasted  in  com- 
mon. This  symptom  also  belongs  to  deranged  and  even  sane 
persons,  but  is  much  less  frequent.  A  more  common  event  is 
to  hear  madmen  reason  during  the  day  in  accordance  with  their 
nightly  hallucinations. 

Finally,  there  are  cases  of  somnambulism  which  present  hal- 
lucinations similar  to  those  of  dreams.  Many  observations  in 
these  two  classes  prove  that  the  will  of  man  may  be  perverted, 
and  he  may  be  led  into  actions  involving  serious  responsibility. 

tSymjJtoms  of  Illusions. — The  symptomatology  of  illusions  is 

*  Baillarger,  op.  cit.  t.  12,  p.  476. 


PHYSIOLOGY  AND  SYMPTOMATOLOGY  OF  HALLUCINATIONS.      439 

50  closely  allied  to  that  of  hallucinations,  as  to  need  only  a  sum- 
mary notice.  The  series  of  phenomena  (called  sensorial  and  in- 
tellectual) of  hallucinations  will  bear  the  same  explanation.  The 
essential  characteristic  is  the  transformation  which  external 
objects,  or  those  which  exist  out  of  the  brain,  undergo.  A 
stranger  may  be  transformed  into  a  friend,  a  relative,  a  hus- 
band; or,  a  woman  may  become  a  man.  The  persons  of  their 
fellow-patients  are  altered  to  those  of  other  individuals.  One 
person,  on  looking  at  himself  in  a  mirror,  was  so  strongly  agi- 
tated that  he  rushed  on  his  keeper  and  stabbed  him  with  a  knife. 
A  descendant  of  the  great  Reformer,  whom  we  attended,  uttered 
a  cry  of  horror;  she  had  just  seen  her  son  in  the  glass,  fright- 
fully altered  ;  this  illusion  was  caused  by  the  sight  of  herself. 
King  Theodoric  experienced  the  most  bitter  remorse  at  the 
sight  of  a  fish  that  was  served  at  table,  which  appeared  to  him 
to  be  the  head  of  the  Senator  Symmachus,  whom  he  had  con- 
demned to  death. 

The  greatest  variety  of  symptoms  are  produced  by  illusions  ; 
thus,  some  persons  believe  they  have  the  head  of  a  bird  or  a 
horse,  or  an  extremely  long  nose,  or  one  which  keeps  constantly 
lengthening,  or  a  body  made  of  wax;  others  are  persuaded  that 
they  increase  or  shrink,  or  fly  through  air.  Many  declare 
themselves  changed  into  dogs,  cats,  wolves,  and  devils.  The 
British  Review  mentions  the  case  of  a  man  who  believed  he  was 
changed  into  a  teapot.  Van  Beerle,  convinced  that  he  was  made 
of  butter,  refused  to  approach  the  fire,  lest  he  should  melt,  and 
the  idea  caused  him  to  throw  himself  into  a  well. 

A  stone,  a  tree,  a  piece  of  tapestry  are  metamorphosed  into 
frightful  apparitions.  The  forest- trees  people  the  country  with 
phantoms;  clouds  often  become  armies  engaged  in  battle,  or 
angels,  who  come  to  console  mortals.  Spectres  wander  at  night 
amongst  the  tombs. 

Illusions  of  hearing  are  no  less  frequent.  The  whistling  of 
the  winds  become  sighs  or  menacing  voices.  The  dash  of  the 
waves  bear  with  them  the  last  cries  of  the  shipwrecked  mariners. 
Bessus  seized  his  sword  and  killed  the  swallows  that  made  a  nest 
in  his  room.  "See  these  birds,"  said  he,  angrily,  "they  accuse 
me  of  having  killed  my  father!"  of  which  crime,  history  informs 
us,  he  was  subsequently  convicted. 

Illusions  of  touch  are  no  less  remarkable  than  those  of  the 


440      *  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

other  senses.  Some  insane  persons,  whose  skin  does  not  pro- 
perly performs  its  functions,  affirm,  on  the  slightest  touch,  that 
they  are  heaten,  and  being  murdered  ;  others  having  cutaneous 
diseases,  feel  insects  and  spiders  running  over  them.  Esquirol 
mentions  an  officer  who  frequently  uttered  loud  cries,  and  ap- 
peared to  drive  off  menacing  objects  ;  it  was  discovered  that  he 
took  each  blade  of  straw  for  the  beaks  of  birds  of  prey,  which 
were  wounding  him. 

Sometimes  the  symptoms  are  connected  with  the  internal 
organs;  the  sufferers  feel  insects  moving  in  different  parts  of 
the  brain,  snakes  gnawing  the  stomach,  and  frogs  and  toads 
moving  in  the  abdomen.  One  young  lady  was  certain  that  a 
worm  was  devouring  her  skull.  A  hypochondriac,  under  the 
care  of  Mons.  Rayer,  felt  a  large  and  a  small  worm  alternately 
moving  up  and  down  the  oesophagus  and  stomach.  Atrophy 
of  the  spinal  marrow  belongs  to  the  same  class.  It  has  been 
asserted  that  hallucinations,  relating  to  visceral  sensations, 
were  very  often  combined  with  lesion  of  the  organs,  whilst  this 
morbid  disposition  was  very  rare  in  illusions  ;  the  distinction 
appears  to  us  of  minor  importance.  A  general,  who  was  sub- 
ject to  rheumatism  in  the  knee,  seized  the  affected  part  with  one 
hand,  whilst  with  the  other  he  dealt  heavy  blows  on  it,  repeat- 
ing: "Ah,  rascal,  you  will  not  go,  then!"  He  imagined  his 
knee  to  be  a  thief. 

Esquirol  ranks  all  the  phenomena  of  sexual  intercourse 
amongst  illusions  of  touch.  But  hallucination  must  also  have 
existed,  since  the  diseased  person  was  conscious  of  a  corporeal 
presence. 

The  history  of  incubes  and  succubes  leaves  this  point  unques- 
tionable. The  history  of  the  Middle  Ages  gives  proof  of  the 
number  of  unfortunates,  who,  under  the  influence  of  this  variety 
of  demonomania  (hallucinations  of  the  organs  of  generation), 
confessed  themselves  to  have  had,  during  a  series  of  years,  com- 
merce with  the  devil,  etc. 

It  is  very  common  for  insane  females  to  imagine  themselves 
outraged  by  the  other  sex  ;  we  rarely  meet  with  examples  of 
this  class  of  symptoms  in  men. 

In  common  with  the  other  senses,  that  of  smell  is  a  cause  of 
error  to  the  insane  ;  many  find  a  bad  taste  in  their  food  because 
their  digestive  functions  are  deranged,  and  the  mucus  of  the 


PHYSIOLOGY  AND  SYMPTOMATOLOGY  OF  HALLUCINATIONS.      441 

mouth  is  dry  and  arid,  and  they  reject  nourishment  under  the 
impression  that  they  are  going  to  be  poisoned. 

We  have  now  analyzed,  with  the  greatest  possible  care,  the 
physiological  phenomena  of  hallucination  ;  it  remains  to  glance 
on  its  intellectual  mechanism,  and  on  the  conditions  most  favor- 
able for  its  production. 

Esquirol,  swayed  by  the  sensual  philosophy  in  the  midst  of 
which  he  was  educated,  saw  in  hallucinations  only  recollections^ 
associated  by  the  force  of  imagination.  Ideas  passing  through 
the  senses,  the  brain  could  not  imagine  any  sensible  form  the 
model  of  which  had  not  been  previously  recognized. 

"It  would  take  too  long  a  time,"  said  M.  de  Chambre,  "to 
deduce  here  the  theoretic  motives  or  experiences  which  do  not 
permit  us  to  recognize  the  limits  imposed  on  the  evolutions  of 
thought,  even  in  delirium.  We  will  content  ourselves  with  one 
reservation,  convinced  as  we  are  that  the  imagination  of  the 
hallucinated  frequently  oversteps  the  circlet  of  memory  to  act 
on  its  own  account." 

M.  Baillarger,  who  has  carefully  studied  the  conditions  favor- 
able to  the  production  of  hallucinations  (psycho-sensorial),  has 
placed  them  under  three  principal  heads  : — 

1st.  The  involuntary  exercise  of  memory  and  imagination  ; 

2d.  Suspension  of  external  impressions  ; 

3d.  Internal  excitation  of  the  sensorial  organs. 

As  we  have  discussed  in  another  chapter  the  value  of  the 
opinion  of  this  author  on  the  slackening  of  attention  as  very 
much  adapted  to  the  production  of  hallucinations,  we  will  not 
repeat  it.  It  is  sufficient  to  recollect  that  if  in  reverie,  aliena- 
tion, the  intermediate  state  between  waking  and  sleeping,  and  the 
state  of  melancholy  with  stupor,  many  facts  lean  to  support  this 
theory,  yet  there  are  others,  equally  conclusive,  which  place  be- 
yond doubt  the  influence  of  will  and  attention  in  the  development 
of  hallucinations.  Thus  we  persist  in  saying  that  this  pheno- 
menon may  occur  in  the  highest  degree  of  meditation,  when  it 
is,  so  to  speak,  the  perfection  of  a  fixed  idea.  This  point  ap- 
pears to  us  undeniable,  as  instanced  in  many  celebrated  persons, 
who  could  reproduce  hallucinations  at  will.  It  is  also  the  opin- 
ion of  Burdach,  who  says  :  "Visions  may  occur  during  the  day, 
when  the  mind  is  concentrated  on  one  idea  and  detached  from 


442  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

the  external  world,  as  happens  in  ecstasy."  Raphael,  in  allud- 
ing to  his  celebrated  picture  of  the  Transfiguration  says,  that 
during  its  progress  he  might  have  been  taken  for  a  maniac  en- 
thusiast ;  he  forgot  his  identity,  and  the  scene  appeared  to  pass 
before  him. 

The  same  objection  may  be  made  to  the  suspension  of  exter- 
nal impressions  ;  if  in  many  cases  it  exists,  in  an  equal  number 
it  is  missing.  We  attend  two  ladies,  who,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  their  hallucinations,  are  perfectly  rational  ;  the  one  hears 
voices  which  suggest  evil  thoughts  ;  these  voices  continue  their 
whisperings,  notwithstanding  needle-work,  amusement,  or  con- 
versation, in  which  she  joins  with  pleasure.  When  questioned 
as  to  these  voices,  she  replies  :  "  My  conviction  in  their  exist- 
ence is  as  strong  as  yours  in  your  sensations."  The  other  is  a 
young  lady  who,  in  the  midst  of  conversation  or  of  her  work, 
stops  suddenly  to  gaze  into  the  air.  To  any  interrogations,  she 
calmly  replies:  "I  am  looking  at  the  snow  which  is  falling  from 
the  ceiling,"  or,  "  the  wall  has  just  opened  to  let  several  men  pass 
through."  These  visions  do  not  at  all  prevent  her  taking  part 
in  all  that  passes  in  the  parlor,  or  in  making  remarks  on  the 
conversation  and  works  of  other  ladies.  In  neither  of  these 
cases  is  there  any  symptom  of  reverie  or  forgetfulness  of  the  ex- 
ternal world  ;  nor  does  speaking  to  them  suspend  the  hallucina- 
tions. The  scholar,  mentioned  by  M.  Baillarger,  appears  to  us 
a  powerful  example  against  the  suspension  of  external  impres- 
sions. We  cannot  then  say  that  this  is  a  general  disposition  of 
mind.  If,  however,  the  relaxation  of  attention  be  favorable  to  the 
production  of  hallucinations,  how  is  it  that  when  this  faculty  is 
strongly  excited  by  the  contemplation  of  the  vision,  it  still  con- 
tinues, and  even  for  a  considerable  time,  although  with  a  con- 
sciousness of  its  falsity,  as  the  cases  of  Nicolai  and  Bostock 
evince? 

A  last  condition  necessary  to  the  production  of  hallucination, 
consists  in  an  excitation  extended  to  one  or  several  of  the  sen- 
sorial organs,  at  least  in  their  intra-cerebral  portions.  As  a 
proof  in  support  of  this,  we  may  observe  that  persons  in  the 
habit  of  using  a  microscope,  often  see  suddenly  the  object  which 
they  have  been  examining  at  intervals,  for  several  hours  after 
they  have  ceased  their  observations. 

In  bringing  to  a  close  that  which  relates  to  the  physiology  of 


PHYSIOLOGY  AND  SYMPTOMATOLOGY  OP  HALLUCINATIONS.      443 

hallucinations,  we  must  draw  attention  to  a  disposition  of  mind 
to  which  the  name  of  liallucinatory  condition  has  been  given,  and 
which,  independently  of  hallucinations,  is  characterized  :  1st. 
By  loss  of  consciousness  of  time,  place,  and  surrounding  objects  ; 
2d.  By  an  entirely  involuntary  exercise  of  memory  and  imagina- 
tion. This  is  the  aparté  of  Esquirol,  which  is  likewise  observed 
in  the  most  rational  men  who  are  absorbed  by  some  deep  medi- 
tation.* The  involuntary  exercise  of  the  faculties  does  not  only 
accompany  hallucinations,  it  often  precedes  them  ;  forming,  as  it 
were,  their  precursor.  The  state  of  hallucination  is  of  variable 
duration  ;  it  may  last  for  several  hours,  or  only  for  a  few 
seconds. 

Recapitulation. — The  physiology  of  hallucinations  offers 
great  difficulties,  for  which  reason  they  have  been  considered 
inseparable  from  insanity.  Hallucination  has  been  described  by 
several  authors  as  composed  of  two  elements,  psychical  and  sen- 
sorial; the  fact  appears  unfavorable  to  the  theory  of  the  interven- 
tion of  the  senses.  The  sensorial  action  appealed  to  by  Burdach 
and  Millier,  is  no  more  real  than  is  the  cerebral  pain  belonging 
to  a  long  amputated  member.  If  sensation  exists  in  the  organ, 
how  can  hallucination  of  the  blind  and  deaf  be  explained  ?  If 
even  the  phenomenon  passes  solely  in  a  certain  portion  of  the 
brain,  it  cannot,  for  that  reason,  have  any  need  of  the  sensorial 
organ. 

But  even  if  we  reject  the  intervention  of  the  senses,  the  divi- 
sion of  hallucinations  into  psycho-sensoi'ial  and  psychical  is  no 
less  useful  in  the  classification  of  the  phenomena.  The  degree 
of  intensity  appears  to  us  the  best  illustration  of  this  classi- 
fication. 

This  decomposition  of  the  elements  of  hallucination  naturally 
leads  to  the  study  of  the  intellectual  and  sensorial  phenomena. 
Amongst  the  intellectual  phenomena  of  hallucinations  of  hear- 
ing, the  frequency  of  which  places  them  in  the  foremost  rank, 
we  must  range  different  kinds  of  noises,  the  repetition  of  some 
particular  word  or  words,  the  reproduction  of  the  habitual  pre- 
occupation of  mind  in  the  individual.  Even  when  hallucinations 
present  some  extraordinary  feature,  they  may  be  traced  to  read- 
ing,  conversation,  and   recollections.      There  are,  however,  a 

*  Des  Maladies  Mentales,  Paris,  1838. 


444  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

certain  number  of  visions  whicli  have  no  connection  with  occu- 
pations, thoughts,  or  habitual  works. 

Hallucinations  may  come  from  without  ;  they  are  more  fre- 
quently ascribed  to  invisible  beings,  who  speak  in  the  second  or 
third  person,  or  to  indeterminate  persons,  as  tliey,  them.  The 
number  of  interlocutors  may  be  considerable. 

An  interesting  phenomenon  in  reference  to  psychology,  is 
that  which  excites  a  belief  in  the  existence  of  two  individuals, 
or  two  principles  in  the  same  person  ;  the  one  inciting  to  evil, 
the  other  urging  to  good. 

In  general,  hallucinations  are  not  under  the  control  of  the 
will.  Sometimes,  however,  they  are  so  ;  which  is  a  powerful 
argument  against  the  relaxation  of  attention;  they  disappear  or 
continue,  notwithstanding  a  desire  to  the  contrary.  The  most 
powerful  concentration  of  thought  cannot  sometimes  reproduce 
an  hallucination  which,  a  few  moments  previously,  has  appeared 
uncalled  for. 

When  hallucinations  of  hearing  are  exhibited  in  several  lan- 
guages spoken  by  the  person  affected,  the  least  distinct  are 
those  of  the  language  with  which  he  is  the  least  familiar. 

The  intellectual  faculties  may  receive  a  greater  development 
in  hallucinations;  this  symptom  particularly  has  been  already 
proved  ;  it  accounts  for  the  extraordinary  influence  which  certain 
men  have  exercised  on  their  fellow-creatures,  with  the  reserva- 
tion, however,  that  these  hallucinations  are  compatible  with 
reason. 

Intellectual  hallucinations  of  hearing  may  be  the  reproduction 
of  vivid  anterior  sensations. 

The  sensorial  phenomena  of  hallucinations  of  hearing  are 
characterized  by  sounds  more  or  less  solemn.  They  most  usu- 
ally resemble  murmurings  and  whisperings.  The  sounds  may 
suddenly  cease  and  conversations  take  place  mentally. 

Extraordinary  noises,  and  revelations  from  the  other  world, 
belong  to  hallucinations  of  hearing. 

The  voices  may  be  very  near,  or  heard  at  a  distance,  and  in 
different  directions,  or  they  may  consist  of  noises  of  various 
kinds. 

Hallucinations  sometimes  occur  only  on  one  side.  The  hallu- 
cinated hear  with  but  one  ear,  or  see  with  but  one  eye  ;  these 


PHYSIOLOGY  AND  SYMPTOMATOLOGY  OF  HALLUCINATIONS.      445 

are  the  double  hallucinations  {hallucinations  dédoublées)  of  Mr. 
Michéa. 

Hallucinations  of  hearing,  instead  of  being  external,  become 
internal. 

The  loss  of  the  senses  is  no  obstacle  to  the  manifestation  of 
hallucinations. 

Hallucinations  of  sight  are  very  usual  with  persons  of  sound 
mind,  whilst  those  of  hearing  are  much  more  common  with  the 
deranged. 

Amongst  the  intellectual  phenomena  of  hallucinations  of 
sight,  may  be  noticed  the  reproduction  for  a  greater  or  less  time 
of  an  object  always  the  same,  which  afterwards  assumes  a  great 
variety  of  changes. 

Hallucinations  of  sight  have  often  an  intimate  relation  with 
actual  preoccupation  of  mind  ;  at  other  times,  they  are  the  re- 
production of  vivid  anterior  sensations. 

Hallucinations  of  sight  are  generally  formed  by  the  most 
habitual  ideas  and  occupations.  In  general,  the  image  is  entire, 
but  sometimes  a  part  only  is  developed  ;  for  example,  half  of 
a  body,  a  head,  or  an  eye.  It  is  probable  that  this  difference 
in  the  representative  sign  depends  on  the  mode  of  conception. 
Thus,  when  an  idea  has  caused  a  deep  impression,  the  image  is 
reproduced  entire,  whilst  the  individual  sees  it  imperfectly,  or 
mistily,  when  the  impression  has  been  weak.  Perhaps  to  this 
cause  may  be  attributed  the  manner  in  which  a  number  of  the 
deranged  speak  of  their  hallucinations  ;  they  have  said,  they 
have  insulted  me,  and  no  other  explanation  can  be  obtained. 

The  sensorial  phenomena  of  hallucinations  of  sight  form  a 
more  interesting  study  than  those  of  hearing.  From  their 
commencement,  they  have  emotion,  and  varieties  of  size,  and 
form. 

Hallucinations,  in  general,  appear  suddenly  ;  they  may  dis- 
appear in  like  manner,  remain  a  certain  time,  or  decrease  gra- 
dually. In  some  cases,  hallucinations  are  developed  at  the  same 
time  with  derangement,  and  cease  with  it. 

Hallucinations  occur  generally  in  the  night,  or,  at  least,  have 
more  intensity  at  that  period.  They  are  also  frequently  noticed 
during  the  day,  and  in  numerous  cases  continue  both  night  and 
day.  Closing  the  eyes  often  causes  hallucinations  to  disappear; 
in  some  circumstances,  the  contrary  effect  is  produced. 


446  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

The  images  are  opposite,  and  follow  the  directions  of  the 
eyes  ;  they  may  be  at  the  side  ;  and  are  at  times  intercepted  by 
opaque  bodies.  In  general,  fantastic  images  cover  external 
objects,  and  conceal  them  from  the  sight. 

Hallucinations  of  smell,  taste,  and  touch  are  simpler  and 
more  rare  than  those  of  hearing  and  of  sight  ;  they  reproduce 
almost  exclusively  sensorial  impression,  and  are,  moreover, 
extremely  difficult  to  distinguish  from  illusions.  To  hallucina- 
tions of  this  nature  must  be  referred  those  pestilential  emana- 
tions from  individuals,  destroying  everything  around  them. 

False  perceptions  of  general  sensibility,  and  especially  those 
of  hypochondriacs,  may  originally  arise  from  the  brain,  and  be 
only  secondarily  conveyed  to  an  organ. 

Hallucinations  are  rarely  confined  to  one  sense,  although  one 
generally  predominates.  It  would  appear,  according  to  Mons. 
Pressât,  that  false  sensations  succeed  each  other  in  regular 
order. 

Psychical  hallucinations,  which  are  almost  exclusively  consti- 
tuted of  the  perceptions  of  hearing,  comprise  intellectual  visions, 
and  the  locutions  and  interior  voices  of  mystics,  which  leave  no 
sensorial  impression  on  the  mind.  The  hallucinists  of  this  class, 
converse  mentally,  by  thought,  by  idea,  mind  to  mind,  hear 
voices  in  the  epigastrium,  and  receive  communications  by  means 
of  a  sixth  sense. 

Independently  of  hallucinations  adapted  to  each  sense,  there 
are  some  common  to  the  whole  group. 

Hallucinations  may  exist,  for  a  length  of  time,  without  affect- 
ing the  reason  ;  but  the  struggle  which  the  sufferer  undergoes 
generally  terminates  by  imparting  a  strangeness  to  his  conduct. 

The  steady  belief  of  the  hallucinated  in  the  reality  of  their 
false  sensations,  explains  the  indomitable  constancy  of  sorcerers 
in  the  midst  of  tortures.  (Doubtless,  a  more  or  less  decided 
anesthetic  must  be  added.) 

Amongst  the  reasons  for  this  conviction  may  be  ranked  the 
correct  judgment  of  the  sufferer  in  matters  foreign  to  their 
delirium.  Some,  however,  recognize  the  falsity  of  their  sensa- 
tions. 

The  nature  of  hallucinations  is  influenced  by  the  different 
forms  of  insanity. 


PHYSIOLOGY  AND  SYMPTOMATOLOGY  OF  HALLUCINATIONS.      447 

All  men  may  have  hallucinations,  the  most  exalted  as  well  as 
the  feeblest  minds. 

The  influence  of  hallucinations  may  lead  to  very  serious 
results. 

Circulatory  and  digestive  functions,  sleep  and  the  secretions, 
evince  alterations. 

Certain  periods  are  more  favorable  to  the  production  of  hal- 
lucinations ;  such  as  the  transition  from  sleep  to  waking,  and 
from  waking  to  sleep,  evening,  and  night.  Many  hallucinations 
occur  indifferently,  however,  by  night  or  day. 

In  the  hallucinations  of  dreams,  all  the  false  sensations  may 
be  felt  which  are  observed  in  waking. 

The  labor  of  thought  may  be  continued  in  dreams,  which 
explains  many  curious  cases  which  have  been  described. 

The  accounts  given  by  sorcerers  of  the  mysteries  of  the  Sab- 
bath, were  only  hallucinations  occurring  in  dreams. 

One  peculiarity  noticed  in  some  deranged  persons  is,  that 
their  conduct  during  the  day  is  guided  by  the  false  sensorial 
impressions  of  the  night. 

The  hallucinations  of  somnambulism  offer  a  great  resemblance 
to  those  of  dreams  ;  they  may  also  occasion  very  reprehensible 
acts. 

Illusions  may  exhibit  all  the  sensorial  and  intellectual  pheno- 
mena of  hallucinations,  which  they  frequently  accompany;  their 
essential  characteristic  is  the  transformation  of  external  bodies, 
into  fanciful  conceptions.  Deranged  per'sons  may  also  believe 
themselves  to  be  the  metamorphosed  object. 

To  hallucinations  of  touch  may  be  ascribed  the  false  sexual 
impressions  of  many  of  the  insane,  incubes  and  succubes,  and 
all  cases  of  this  character  with  which  the  history  of  the  Middle 
Ages  teems. 

The  intellectual  mechanism  of  hallucinations  may  not  be 
restricted  to  recollections  associated  by  imagination;  nothing, 
in  fact,  proves  that  this  last  faculty  does  not  often  overstep  the 
circlet  of  memory  to  act  on  its  own  foundation. 

Three  conditions  appear  to  exert  a  great  influence  on  the 
production  of  hallucinations;  the  involuntary  exercise  of  me- 
mory and  imagination,  the  suspension  of  external  impressions, 
and  the  internal  excitation  of  the  sensorial  organs.  Relaxation 
of  the  mind,  without  doubt,  favors  the  production  of  hallucina- 


448  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

lions,  but  it  is  no  less  certain  that  this  phenomenon  may  take 
place  in  the  highest  degree  of  meditation;  then  occurs  what  has 
been  noticed  in  certain  states  of  the  body,  where  two  extremes 
occasion  symptoms  apparently  identical.  The  same  objections 
may  be  made  to  the  suspension  of  external  impressions;  if 
in  many  cases  they  exist,  in  many  others  they  are  wanting. 

Finally,  there  is  an  hallucinatory  state,  which,  independently 
of  hallucinations,  is  characterized  by  a  loss  of  the  consciousness 
of  time,  of  place,  and  of  surrounding  objects,  by  the  involuntary 
exercise  of  memory  and  imagination.  This  aparté  is  also  ob- 
servable in  men  absorbed  by  some  profound  meditation. 


CHAPTER     XVII. 

PATHOLOGICAL   ANATOMY. 

A  priori,  the  production  of  hallucination  not  easily  explained  by  an  anatomical 
lesion — How  account,  by  pathological  anatomy,  for  the  hallucinations  of  the 
child,  the  thinker,  and  the  poet? — Intermittence  another  objection — Autopsy 
without  chai'acteristic  anatomical  disorders — The  greater  number  of  physicians 
do  not  believe,  in  the  present  state  of  science,  in  any  special  known  alteration 
— The  relation  of  lesions  to  hallucinations  offers  nothing  positive — The  brain 
is  doubtless  modified  ;  but  its  mode  of  change  is  entirely  unknown — Recapitu- 
lation, 

A  priori,  it  seems  difficult  to  connect  hallucinations  with  ana- 
tomical lesion.  The  transformation  of  an  idea  into  an  image, 
or  rather  its  division  [dédoublement),  doubtless  presents  differ- 
ent appearances  in  the  child,  the  rational  man,  the  deranged 
person,  the  hysteric,  and  he  who  is  a  prey  to  fever,  but  it  is  no 
less  the  fundamental  fact  of  hallucination.  By  what  lesions 
can  the  false  sensations  of  the  child  be  explained,  whose  fear 
makes  him  see  demons,  assassins,  and  robbers — or  those  of  the 
rational  man,  who  sees  before  him  villages,  cities,  and  groups  of 
men,  without,  however,  being  duped  by  these  fantastic  forms  ? 
Must  this  psychological  phenomenon  be  attributed  to  a  few  drops 
more  or  less  of  blood,  to  a  nervous  erethismus  ?  The  same 
explanation  is  always  given  to  a  multitude  of  different  diseases  : 
"  Doubtless  it  is  a  cerebral  modification  ;"  but  it  is  contrary  to 
the  simplest  good  sense  to  give  a  uniform  explanation  to  symp- 
toms so  varied  and  so  numerous. 

Are  solitary  hallucinations  identical  in  the  alienated,  the  epi- 
leptic, the  hypochondriac,  and  the  furious  madman?  And  how 
can  we  suppose  them  connected  with  an  anatomical  derangement, 
when  we  see  them  disappear  suddenly,  return  at  indefinite  pe- 
riods, in  the  morning,  the  day,  the  evening,  or  the  night  ?  The 
cerebral  fibre  is  evidently  affected  to  a  certain  degree  in  the 
formation  of  the  idea  ;  but  who  has  ever  comprehended  the 
29 


450  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

modification  ?  It  may  be  anything  excepting  what  it  appears  to 
the  senses. 

When  a  man  of  genius  has  so  concentrated  all  his  faculties 
on  one  favorite  thought  that  it  takes  a  bodily  form,  do  we  know 
how  this  marvel  is  effected  ?  No  more  than  we  can  understand 
the  mechanism  of  thought.  Thus,  by  reasoning,  we  arrive  at 
the  conclusion  that  there  cannot  be  appreciable  anatomical  de- 
rangement in  the  case  of  hallucinations. 

Let  us  now  see  if  cases  of  anatomical  pathology  resolve  the 
question  differently. 

Case  CXLIX.  On  the  first  of  August,  1839,  a  man  was  re- 
ceived in  the  hospital  of  the  Hôtel-Dieu,  aged  thirty- nine,  a 
printer  by  trade,  of  ordinary  height,  a  good  and  strong  consti- 
tution, beard  and  hair  black.  He  related  that,  seventeen  days 
previously,  he  had  been  attacked  in  the  street,  about  two  in  the 
morning,  by  several  men,  and  thrown  down  ;  and  that,  in  falling, 
he  got  a  wound  on  the  upper  part  of  the  occipital  region.  This 
accident  alarmed  him  greatly,  and  on  the  following  night  he 
opened  his  door  under  the  impression  that  some  one  knocked. 
Soon  afterwards,  some  armed  men  entered  the  room,  who  seized 
and  ill-treated  him.  During  the  day  he  was  tranquil,  but  this 
hallucination  was  reacted  every  night.  This  vision,  however, 
was  not  the  first  that  he  had  experienced  ;  for  seven  years  he 
had  been  visited  at  times  by  similar  ones,  all  occurring  at  night. 

On  the  day  after  his  arrival,  his  countenance  expressed  nothing 
remarkable  ;  his  mind  was  perfectly  clear  ;  no  heat  in  the  skin, 
no  fever  ;  all  the  functions  acted  well.  On  the  posterior  and 
superior  portion  of  the  head  was  a  wound,  which  had  injured 
the  scalp,  15  lines  long  by  13  broad. 

Sweetened  barley-water,  castor-oil,  30  grammes.     Diet. 

About  eight  at  night  the  delirium  returned,  the  patient  arose, 
and  we  were  obliged  to  put  on  him  the  strait  waistcoat.  He 
manifested- much  fear,  spoke  of  the  men  who  had  come  to  seize 
him,  and  endeavored  to  take  refuge  behind  the  beds  of  the  other 
patients,  uttering  cries  of  terror.  At  three  in  the  morning,  he 
had  recovered  his  mind,  replied  to  the  questions  addressed  to 
him,  and  was  aware  that  he  was  the  sport  of  an  illusion.  (Bleed- 
ing in  the  foot,  soluble  tartar,  15  grammes,  lemonade,  diet.) 

All  the  symptoms  of  hallucination  were  reproduced  in  the 
night  ;  in  the  morning,  he  was  more  calm,  and  replied  sensibly 


PATHOLOGICAL  ANATOMY.  451 

to  the  questions  asked  ;  but  there  was  a  wildness  in  his  look, 
and  he  soon  endeavored  to  get  free.  (Sulphate  of  quinia.)  No 
febrile  symptoms. 

On  the  5th,  the  violent  delirium  ceased  ;  but  he  still  saw 
visions  ;  from  this  time  he  sank,  his  features  fell,  he  became 
pale  and  thin,  and  refused  to  eat.  On  the  11th  he  had  vomit- 
ings, which  nothing  could  check  ;  neither  draughts,  nor  a  blister 
on  the  epigastrium.  On  the  16th,  the  patient  expired,  at  four 
in  the  morning. 

Autopsy  on  the  17th,  30  hours  after  death. — Head.  The  me- 
ninges, and  particularly  the  pia  mater,  are  injected,  but  are 
easily  separated  ;  they  have  not  contracted  any  adherence  to 
the  cortical  substance.  This,  carefully  examined,  presents 
neither  injection  nor  change  of  texture  ;  the  convolutions  are 
in  a  normal  state.  There  is  no  serosity  in  the  ventricles.  The 
cerebellum  has  its  natural  consistence  and  color.  The  olfactory 
and  auditory  nerves  require  no  notice.  No  serosity  in  the  base. 
The  surface  of  the  stomach  on  a  grayish  base  presents  a  very 
slight  injection  ;  it  is  universally  mammillated,  with  the  exception 
of  the  great  cul-de-sac. 

A  slight  arborescent  injection  is  observable  in  the  duodenum. 
The  liver  very  large.  The  wound  on  the  head  healed;  the  bone 
uninjured. 

This  case  of  hallucination,  as  simple  as  possible,  does  not  pre- 
sent any  anatomical  lesion  which  can  account  for  the  disorder 
of  the  sensations,  unless,  indeed,  we  consider  the  injection  of 
the  meninges  as  a  cause.  It  is,  however,  worthy  of  note  that, 
for  seven  years,  the  patient  had  been  subject  to  these  visions, 
and  that  during  this  lapse  of  time  an  alteration  could  easily 
have  been  developed. 

This  is  not  the  only  autopsy  of  the  hallucinated  which  we 
have  made  ;  in  some  cases  we  have  discovered  nothing  ;  in 
others,  we  have  noticed  injections,  several  times  alterations  in 
the  meninges  and  the  cerebral  substance  ;  but,  even  in  these 
cases,  it  has  been  impossible  for  us  to  discern  the  connection 
between  the  lesion  and  the  disordered  sensations  experienced 
during  life. 

This  opinion  is  that  of  the  immense  majority  of  physicians 
who  have  devoted  years  to  the  study  of  autopsical  researches. 
M.  Lélut  does  not  admit  of  any  anatomical  lesion  in  hallucina- 


452  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

tions.  M.  Calmeil  agrees  in  this  view  of  the  subject.  Leuret 
has  formally  protested  against  those  who  assign  an  appreciable 
material  lesion  to  hallucinations.  It  may  be  generally  asserted 
that  the  brain  of  an  hallucinated  person  does  not  resemble,  point 
for  point,  that  of  one  exempt  from  hallucinations,  but  we  cannot 
indicate  wherein  it  differs. 

M.  Aubanel,  whose  treatise  proves  him  to  have  been  a  close 
observer,  says  :  "  In  three  subjects  of  whom  he  made  j^ost-mortem 
examinations,  two  of  whom  had  hallucinations  of  sight,  the 
other  of  hearing,  he  could  not  detect  the  slightest  change  of 
texture  or  color  in  the  optic  or  auditory  nerves."  Farther  on, 
he  states  :  "I  have  made  very  numerous  autopsies  of  the  alien- 
ated in  Bicetre.  I  have  encountered  multiplied  alterations, 
but  I  have  never  established  their  connection  with  the  pheno- 
mena that  engage  our  attention,  whether  by  reason  of  their 
nature,  of  their  inconstancy  and  variety,  or  of  the  different 
affections  which  have  existed.  These  alterations,  moreover, 
did  not  always  exist.  There  was  nothing  to  prove  that  they 
were  not  old  lesions." 

The  treatise  of  M.  Dupeyré  on  some  points  relative  to  deli- 
rium tremens,  contains  nothing  peculiar  to  hallucinations  in  the 
autopsies  which  are  there  described  ;  they  are  known  lesions. 

Some  localizers  have  attributed  hallucinations  to  the  irritation 
of  a  portion  of  the  encephalus,  but  up  to  the  present  time,  they 
cannot  show  either  the  situation  or  character  of  this  lesion. 

A  physician  of  note  has  found  in  hallucinations  the  nervous 
cords  hard,  yellowish,  and  withered  ;  and,  proceeding  higher, 
has  found  the  cerebral  portion,  to  which  the  nerve  is  attached, 
to  exhibit  more  or  less  serious  alterations  ;  he  has  especially 
noticed  adhérences  of  the  fibres.  When  these  facts  shall  have 
been  published  in  all  their  details,  they  will  attract  the  attention 
of  men  who  are  cultivating  our  science.  But  I  fear  that  it  is 
only  a  simple  coincidence  ;  and  it  would  require  much  more 
decided  proofs  to  destroy  the  arguments  which  we  have  employed 
in  the  opening  of  this  chapter,  or  to  effect  any  alteration  in 
the  present  state  of  science.  We  have  frequently  found  the 
optic  and  acoustic  nerves  wasted  and  altered  in  their  texture, 
"without  the  individuals  having  hallucinations.  As  to  lesions  of 
the  cerebellum,  mentioned  by  the  same  author,  it  would  appear 


PATHOLOGICAL  ANATOMY.  453 

that  he  has  himself  observed  them  in  deranged  persons  who 
were  not  hallucinated. 

Recapitulation. — Even  if  a  particular  lesion  existed  in 
hallucination,  it  still  remains  to  discover  its  mode  of  action  in 
converting  an  idea  into  an  image,  or  rather  in  rendering  visible 
its  sensible  sign. 

The  same  objection  exists  in  describing  the  lesion  which 
peoples  the  solitude  of  the  child  with  phantoms,  and  that  of  the 
rational  man  with  all  kinds  of  images. 

Hallucinations  vary  according  to  cases,  and  the  same  lesion 
cannot  apply  to  all. 

To  explain  hallucinations  as  caused  by  the  presence  of  a  little 
more  or  a  little  less  blood,  would  be  to  remain  still  in  the  circle 
in  which  all  cerebral  diseases  are  at  present  clustered. 

The  researches  of  pathological  anatomy  have  not,  up  to  the 
present  time,  furnished  any  positive  data  on  the  mode  of  lesion 
peculiar  to  hallucinations  ;  it  is,  nevertheless,  that  which  reason- 
ing might  conjecture. 

The  facts  collected  by  Mr.  Foville  are  neither  sufficiently 
numerous  nor  sufficiently  well  known  to  modify  general  opinion; 
we  must,  therefore,  be  content  to  wait  until  this  gentleman  has 
published  his  anatomico-pathological  researches. 


CHAPTER    XVIII. 

PROGRESS — DURATION — DIAGNOSIS — PROGNOSIS. 

Progress  and  continuance  —  HallTicinations  are  irregular,  remittent,  sometimes 
constant — Causes  which  influence  them  in  their  progress — The  peculiar  form 
which  the  madness  assumes  exercises  an  action  on  hallucinations — Intermit- 
tences— Periodical  attacks. 

Dîiration — Exhibits  great  differences — Varies  according  to  the  character  of  the 
hallucination. 

Diagnosis — Hallucinations  easily  discovered  when  the  patient  speaks  of  them, 
sometimes  impossible  when  he  maintains  silence — Signs  by  which  they  may 
be  recognized — Different  characteristics  of  nocturnal  hallucinations,  somnam- 
bulism and  ecstasy — Difference  between  hallucinations  and  illusions — The  forms 
of  insanity  may  make  the  diagnosis  uncertain. 

Prognosis — Varies  according  to  the  kind — The  prognosis  modified  by  the  period 
— Different  forms  of  alienation  have  a  marked  influence — NerVous  diseases 
aggi-avated  by  hallucinations — Hallucinations  of  long  endurance  change  their 
nature  —  Prognosis  of  simple  and  general  hallucinations  —  Hallucinations 
acknowledged  by  the  patients  seldom  serious — The  prognosis  more  important 
in  hypochondria,  hysteria,  epilepsy,  and  certain  varieties  of  illusions. — Reca- 
pitulation. 

Hallucinations  do  not,  in  general,  progress  steadily  ;  tliey 
return  at  irregular  intervals,  as  well  in  the  day  as  at  night,  and 
present  very  marked  remissions.  These  remissions  happen 
particularly  in  the  day,  and  their  variable  return  appears  to  us 
a  powerful  argument  against  the  existence  of  a  durable  lesion 
in  the  organ  attached  to  the  phenomenon.  This  rule  is  not, 
however,  without  exception;  in  melancholy  alienation,  when  the 
patient  thinks  he  has  been  arrested,  menaced,  or  is  alarmed  by 
some  frightful  vision,  and  pursued  by  enemies,  the  remission  is 
not  always  appreciable.  The  hallucinations  lasts  for  an  indefi- 
nite period. 

Hours  of  repose,  distractions,  and  intellectual  or  manual 
occupations  are  sufficient  to  make  hallucinations  less  sensible, 
and  even  sometimes  to  put  an  entire  stop  to  them. 

In  a  certain  number  of  cases,  the  transition  from  waking  to 


PROGRESS — DURATION — DIAGNOSIS— PROGNOSIS.  455 

sleep,  and  vice  versa,  has  an  influence  on  the  production  of 
hallucinations. 

Evening,  darkness,  and  night  favor  the  return  of  hallucina- 
tions, or  augment  their  intensity.  It  is,  in  general,  at  night 
that  the  hallucinated  are  agitated,  speak,  sing,  dispute,  and 
shriek. 

The  form  of  insanity  exercises  an  influence  on  the  progress 
of  hallucinations.  Their  type  presents  difi"erences,  according 
to  which  they  exist  with  certain  varieties  of  monomania,  with 
mania  and  dementia.  Sometimes  even  the  type  may  disappear, 
masked  by  the  alienation. 

Intermittence  has  often  been  observed  in  hallucinations,  and 
their  suspension  characterized  by  considerable  lucid  intervals. 

The  seasons  have  not  ofi'ered  any  efi"ect  worthy  of  note. 

Hallucinations  having  been  constant,  may  become  remittent 
or  intermittent.  Thus,  it  happens  that  an  insane  person  is 
tormented  night  and  day  by  a  vision  or  a  voice.  After  awhile 
these  phenomena  cease  by  day,  and  only  occur  at  night.  "With 
many,  the  exacerbation  is  more  powerful  night  and  morning. 
At  other  times,  hallucinations,  having  been  intermittent  and 
remittent,  become  constant. 

Periodical  returns  have  been  proved  in  some  cases,  without 
more  explanation  being  possible  than  is  given  to  fevers. 

The  duration  of  hallucinations  presents  great  variety;  we 
have  seen  some  disappear  in  a  few  hours,  and  others  last  for 
years.  Their  duration  is  often  long  when  attached  to  chronic 
insanity. 

When  hallucination  is  manifested  suddenly  with  insanity,  it 
may  quickly  cease.  A  young  lady  became  suddenly  deranged 
in  consequence  of  a  disappointment  in  love;  she  thought  her 
lover  was  near  to  her,  and  spoke  to  him  constantly.  In  three 
days  she  became  aware  of  her  mistake.  A  man  habituated  to 
drinking  was  seized  with  furious  delirium,  and  endeavored  to 
kill  two  men  who  were  on  the  top  of  the  wall  menacing  him.  Ten 
days  afterwards  he  acknowledged  that  he  had  been  crazy,  but 
coolly  affirmed  his  conviction  that  the  two  men  had  been  in 
his  room.  In  a  month  afterwards,  he  allowed  that  he  had 
been  strangely  deceived.  Hallucination  may  last  but  a  few 
hours.  A  young  man,  seized  with  one  of  those  sudden  frenzies 
which  a  shock  or  change  of  place  suffices  to  cure,  said,  on  en- 


456  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

tering  ray  establishment:  "Who  is  that  woman  dressed  in  white, 
that  walks  before  me?"  He  asked  the  same  question  several 
times,  but  in  two  hours  spoke  no  more  of  it. 

In  mania  and  acute  delirium,  hallucinations  may  be  very 
fugitive. 

In  gloomy  monomania,  on  the  contrary,  and  in  demonomania, 
their  persistency  is  great.  In  general,  their  existence  is  but 
fleeting  in  advanced  and  senile  dementia,  and,  in  general  para- 
lysis with  dementia. 

When  hallucinations  have  existed  for  several  months,  and  still 
more,  for  several  years,  in  monomania,  mania,  and  dementia  in 
its  first  stage,  they  may  be  prolonged  for  a  length  of  time.  I 
have  seen  deranged  persons  who  have  had  hallucinations  for 
ten,  fifteen,  and  twenty  years.  Examples  have  occurred,  where 
they  have  existed  almost  a  lifetime. 

The  diagnosis  of  hallucinations  appears,  at  the  first  glance,  to 
present  no  difficulty.  It  seems,  in  fact,  impossible  to  misappre- 
hend the  acts  of  a  man  who  sees  figures  invisible  to  all  others, 
and  hears  voices  no  one  else  can  hear.  But  such  is  not  always 
the  case  ;  sometimes  the  hallucinated  is  conscious  that  his  sen- 
sations are  false  ;  he  therefore  carefully  conceals  them.  This 
state  may  last  for  a  long  time,  without  any  indication  of  its  ex- 
istence. At  other  times,  a  man  acts  irrationally;  but  he  says 
nothing  of  it  ;  the  greatest  mystery  seems  to  pervade  his  con- 
duct; and  years  may  paiss  without  the  enigma  being  solved. 
Dr.  Marc  has  related  a  curious  case,  and  he  judiciously  olsserves, 
that  in  this  instance  the  more  unique  and  eccentric  the  actions 
appear,  the  naore  they  may  be  presumed  to  be  caused  by  hallu- 
cinations. 

It  is  necessary,  on  being  consulted  in  a  case  of  medical  juris- 
prudence, for  the  purpose  of  ascertaining  if  hallucination  exists, 
to  take  account  of  antecedents,  to  examine  actual  symptoms, 
and,  above  all,  to  take  into  consideration  the  physiognomy  of  the 
person  under  examination.  The  observations  required  are  of 
three  orders  :  discourse,  actions,  and  writings.  If  the  person 
speaks  of  angels,  devils,  and  animals  which  he  has  seen,  and 
these  visions  are  connected  with  his  habitual  ideas  ;  if  they  occur 
at  irregular  hours  of  the  day  and  night,  suddenly;  if  the  voices 
have  uttered  nonsense,  abuse,  or  menace,  and  these  relations  are 
made  incoherently,  it  is  almost  certain  that  the  individual  has 


PKOGRESS — DURATION — DIAGNOSIS — PROGNOSIS.  457 

hallucinations  of  sight  and  hearing.  This  opinion  presents 
greater  force  when  the  person  stops,  is  angry  and  furious  because 
the  voices  insult  him,  or  is  constantly  moving  about  to  avoid 
their  menaces.  The  refusal  of  food  under  pretext  that  it  is 
poisoned,  the  fear  of  entering  a  room  because  men  are  concealed 
there,  the  action  of  looking  under  beds,  up  the  chimney,  and 
disarranging  all  the  bedclothes  to  seek  for  them,  are  so  many 
proofs  of  disease.  Finally,  letters,  memoranda,  and  notes  dis- 
pel all  doubts;  for,  howsoever  plausible  the  reasons  alleged  may 
be  in  his  favor,  insanity  will  soon  betray  itself  in  these.  This 
examination  is  no  less  useful  in  medico-legal  estimates,  when  the 
individual  is  suspected  of  simulating  madness. 

We  have  endeavored,  in  the  course  of  this  work,  to  prove  that 
dreams,  somnambulism,  and  ecstasy  had  numerous  points  of 
resemblance  with  hallucinations,  but  we  have  never  professed 
that  they  were  identical  ;  this  distinction  is  important,  and  we 
invite  attention  to  it.  Their  different  characteristics  have  been 
described.  Thus,  nocturnal  hallucinations  could  not  be  con- 
founded with  dreams,  inasmuch  as  they  make  a  deep  impression 
on  the  mind,  and  remain  clearly  engraven  on  the  memory. 
"With  the  dreamer,"  says  Esquirol,  "waking  ideas  are  con- 
tinued during  sleep,  whilst  the  hallucinist  completes  (I  should 
prefer  to  say  continues)  his  dream  when  almost  entirely  awake. 
Hallucinists  differ  from  somnambulists  in  this  respect,  that  in 
the  greater  number  of  cases  they  retain  a  faithful  remembrance 
of  their  sensations,  whilst  somnambulists  recollect  nothing.  This 
is,  however,  not  so  constant  a  fact  as  has  been  stated  ;  we  have 
mentioned  proofs  to  the  contrary. 

The  nature  of  ecstasy  is  not  that  of  hallucination,  but  they 
follow  each  other  as  the  shadow  follows  the  substance.  In 
ecstasy,  the  nervous  influence  is  concentrated  on  a  single  point  ; 
and  all  the  functions,  excepting  imagination,  are  suspended. 
In  the  hallucinated,  on  the  contrary,  all  the  functions  are  accom- 
plished ;  the  augmented  action  of  the  centre  of  sensibility  is 
sufficient.*  These  differences  do  not  strike  us  to  be  so  decided 
as  some  pretend  ;  for  it  appears  to  us  that  the  hallucinated  per- 
son is  under  the  influence  of  strong  preoccupation,  and  that  his 
imagination  is  also  in  action. 

*  Monneret  and  Fleury,  Compendium  de  Médecine  Pratique,  art.  Folie. 


458  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

Illusion^  separated  by  some  writers  from  hallucination,  and 
united  to  it  by  others,  although  having  a  common  centre  and 
numerous  points  of  contact,  should  not,  it  appears  to  us,  be 
confounded.  Friedreich,  M.  Aubanel,  and  others,  who  would 
reduce  them  to  one  class,  say,  in  support  of  this  opinion,  that 
hallucinations  and  illusions  originate  in  the  same  spot,  the  brain  ; 
that  they  are  constantly  changing  from  the  one  to  the  other  ; 
and  that  hallucinations  of  touch,  taste,  and  smell  could  not,  in 
most  cases,  be  distinguished  from  illusions  of  the  same  senses. 
These  statements  are  much  more  specious  than  real;  because 
hypochondria  and  hysteria  have  each  their  origin  in  the  brain, 
does  it  follow  that  they  are  alike,  as  even  esteemed  authors  have 
maintained  ?  M.  Dubois,  of  Amiens,  in  his  excellent  work,  has 
clearly  resolved  the  question.  Their  transformation  into  each 
other  is  no  more  a  reason  for  confounding  them,  than  the  pas- 
sage from  monomania  to  mania,  and  sometimes  from  dementia 
(although  much  more  rarely),  into  these  two  forms,  is  sufficient 
to  cause  these  three  kinds  to  be  described  under  the  generic 
name  of  insanity.  The  difficulty  of  distinguishing  them  in  the 
three  senses  designated  is  real,  but  not  insurmountable  ;  for  in 
this  case  even,  the  difference  may  be  established.  Thus,  in  the 
case  we  are  about  to  relate,  the  characters  of  hallucination  are 
distinct,  and  it  would  be  difficult  to  confound  it  with  illusion. 

Case  CL.  Madame  D.,  daughter  of  a  celebrated  physician, 
well  educated,  gifted  with  a  sound  judgment,  a  very  good  musi- 
cian, and  never  having  had  any  disease  in  the  ear,  has,  for 
many  years,  had  an  hallucination  of  hearing,  which  consists  in 
the  repetition  of  a  musical  phrase  for  several  consecutive  hours. 
This  lady  has  frequently  noted  these  musical  airs,  but  has  never 
found  them  worth  the  trouble  of  preserving.  They  are  at  times 
regular  melodies,  but  presenting  nothing  original,  and  yet  no- 
thing popularly  known  ;  at  other  times  they  are  only  incoherent 
notes. 

This  lady  is  conscious  that  she  is  the  sport  of  an  hallucination  ; 
she  is  no  way  influenced  by  it,  but  yet  cannot  rid  herself  of  it. 
The  musical  airs  having  continued  for  a  time,  cease,  to  return 
at  intervals. 

M.  Meniere,  to  whom  we  are  indebted  for  this  case,  has  on 
several  occasions  examined  the  lady;  he  has  not  found  any 
defect  in  the  ear.    In  a  word,  the  characteristic  remains  decided 


PKOGRESS  — DURATION — DIAGNOSIS — PROGNOSIS.  459 

and  pathognomonic,  wliich,  to  our  minds,  irrevocably  settles  the 
question  of  the  inutility  of  an  external  impression  in  hallucina- 
tion; whilst  in  illusion  it  is  indispensable.  There  can  be  no 
illusion,  without  an  image;  whilst  the  blind  and  deaf  have  hal- 
lucinations. We  might  add  that  the  conduct  of  the  hallucinated 
may  be  consistent  with  reason,  and  that  the  false  sensation  may 
long  exist  unperceived,  whilst  illusion  will  not  escape  notice, 
and  will  finally  place  any  one  exhibiting  its  symptoms  amongst 
the  insane. 

The  form  of  alienation  may  render  its  diagnosis  uncertain. 
Thus,  with  maniacs,  it  is  sometimes  impossible  to  recognize  the 
kind  of  hallucination,  or  to  distinguish  it  from  illusion,  because 
the  sensations  of  the  patient  are  all  internal.  His  actions  can 
alone  guide  the  judgment  of  the  physician. 

Prognosis. — Hallucinations  are  regarded  as  a  very  unfavor- 
able sign  in  insanity;  those  which  are  material  and  simple 
offer,  it  is  said,  a  less  chance  of  cure  than  those  which  arise  as 
a  symptom  of  another  form  of  delirium.  These  general  princi- 
ples require  some  development.  Solitary  hallucinations,  which 
appear  suddenly  in  individuals  who  have  no  sign  of  insanity, 
are  quickly  cured;  so  it  is  with  those  consequent  on  the  abuse 
of  strong  drink;  they  cease  with  the  cause.  Hallucinations 
dependent  on  a  febrile  state  without  mental  alienation,  pass 
away  with  the  disease.  Hallucinations  occasioned  by  narcotic 
substances,  are  dispelled  when  the  action  of  the  substance 
ceases. 

The  prognosis  differs  with  mental  diseases.  In  active  and 
recent  monomania,  the  hallucinations  have  but  slight  influence; 
it  is  not  so  in  melancholy  monomania,  especially  if  characterized 
by  the  idea  of  a  bad  action,  the  fear  of  damnation,  or  any  cause 
of  alarm  ;  they  add  to  the  evil,  and  often  provoke  to  suicide. 

The  hallucinations  of  mania  may  be  rendered  dangerous  by 
the  resolutions  which  they  induce,  often  driving  the  alienated  to 
inconsiderate  acts;  so  that  a  maniac,  hearing  a  voice  calling  to 
him  from  the  street,  may  throw  himself  out  of  the  window. 
There  is  no  doubt  that  suicide,  in  this  kind  of  madness,  has 
often  been  caused  by  hallucinations  ;  and  when  combined  with 
illusion,  as  is  often  the  case,  the  madman  may  become  a  homicide. 
At  other  times,  he  gives  way  to  transports  of  blind  rage  ;  tears, 
destroys,  and  knocks  down  any  one  who  opposes  him  ;  because  he 


460  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

incessantly  hears  evil  and  taunting  voices.  The  duration  of 
hallucinations  is  generally  short  and  fugitive  in  acute  mania; 
and  often,  in  chronic  mania,  they  are  as  versatile  as  the  ideas  of 
the  maniac. 

Puerperal  mania  may  be  combined  with  hallucinations  ;  but 
this  species  of  madness  being,  in  general,  rapidly  cured,  the 
symptom  is  very  unimportant. 

The  hallucinations  of  acute  dementia  are  rare  and  of  little 
consequence. 

Hallucinations  in  dementia  have  but  a  relative  influence  ; 
they  become  weaker  and  disappear  with  the  progression  of  the 
disease.  It  is,  however,  not  unusual  for  hallucinations  in  maniac 
and  monomaniac  dementia  to  last  for  several  years  ;  we  have 
noticed  them  in  cases  of  this  character  for  six  or  seven  years 
after  their  first  appearance.  Their  importance  in  this  form  of 
alienation  depends  on  the  recrudescences,  which  give  more  inten- 
sity to  hallucinations  and  aggravate  the  condition  of  the  patient. 
They  are  sometimes  a  bad  symptom  when  connected  with 
mournful  ideas,  because  they  agitate  the  patient,  disturb  his 
repose,  and  deprive  him  of  sleep.  The  hallucinations  remarked 
in  some  cases  of  general  paralysis  with  dementia,  adds  but  little 
to  the  severity  of  the  alienation,  but  they  contribute  to  distress 
the  suflFerer,  by  giving  fresh  impetus  to  his  deadened  impres- 
sions. 

When  hallucinations  have  existed  for  a  great  length  of  time, 
the  prognostic  becomes  more  serious,  and  the  difficulty  of  eradi- 
cating them  is  increased.  Whatever  may  have  been  their  origin, 
they  must  necessarily  have  produced  a  modification  in  the  cere- 
bral texture,  a  faulty  direction  of  that  organ  ;  and  it  is  more 
difficult  to  discover  a  remedy,  because  the  modification  itself  is 
entirely  unknown  to  us.  We  do  not  dispute  that  hallucinations 
of  long  standing  have  been  cured  ;  but  these  cases  belong  to 
the  catalogue  of  chronic  diseases,  the  cures  of  Avhich  are 
reported,  but  from  which  it  is  not  possible  to  form  a  doctrine. 
We  have  read  of  more  than  twenty  cases  of  persons  who  have 
been  insane  for  seven,  eight,  ten,  and  fifteen  years,  who  have 
been  suddenly  cured  by  a  wound,  a  fall,  or  a  sudden  immersion. 
These  are  exceptional  cases,  which  cannot  serve  as  rules  for  con- 
duct. Their  authenticity,  however,  prevents  a  too  absolute 
assertion  of  the  incurability  of  hallucinations  of  long  existence. 


PROaRESS — DURATION — DIAGNOSIS — PROGNOSIS.  461 

The  prolonged  duration  of  hallucinations  produces  besides  a 
psychological  phenomenon  which  accounts  for  the  difficulty  of 
their  cure.  In  fact,  hallucinations  having  been  fixed  and  dis- 
tinct for  years,  tends,  by  the  constant  repetition  of  the  same 
act,  to  become  confused  and  volatile,  and  to  transform  itself  into 
another,  or  even  to  pass  into  a  state  of  general  hallucination. 

A  simple  hallucination  is  more  readily  cured  than  when  it  is 
combined  with  others.  If  an  hallucination  of  all  the  senses 
occurs  from  the  commencement,  the  prognosis  is  serious,  because 
it  announces  a  deep  and  intense  cerebral  disorder. 

When  the  hallucinated  are  conscious  of  the  falsity  of  their 
impressions,  the  prognosis  is  unimportant  ;  the  remark  applies 
equally  to  those  who,  in  giving  credence  to  their  hallucinations, 
do  not  act  under  their  influence  ;  but  when  hallucinations  are 
prolonged,  and  above  all  exist  in  individuals  predisposed  to 
madness,  or  of  weak,  superstitious,  and  ignorant  minds,  they  are 
frequently  of  extreme  tenacity. 

Hallucinations  observable  in  hypochondria  and  epilepsy  in- 
crease the  severity  of  those  diseases  ;  they  are  often  dangerous 
in  epilepsy,  by  the  actions  to  which  they  excite  the  patient. 
Hallucinations  combined  with  illusions  of  taste,  touch,  and 
smell  are  often  very  obstinate,  particularly  when  the  patients 
think  that  their  food  is  poisoned,  and  that  their  death  is  being 
compassed  by  pestilential  odors,  etc. 

Recapitulation. — Progress  and  duration.  Hallucinations 
may  be  remittent,  irregular,  diurnal,  nocturnal,  intermittent,  or 
periodical.     They  are  more  rarely  constant. 

Different  causes  may  diminish  the  intensity  of  hallucinations, 
or  even  suspend  them. 

The  progress  of  hallucinations  vary,  according  to  the  form  or 
character  of  the  madness.     The  same  occurs  with  the  type. 

The  duration  of  hallucinations  is  very  variable;  some  last 
only  a  few  hours — others  during  a  W'hole  lifetime. 

The  forms  of  insanity  influence  their  duration. 

Diagnosis. — The  difficulty  of  the  diagnosis  exists  when  the 
individuals  keep  silence. 

In  a  doubtful  case,  the  conversations,  actions,  and  writings 
must  be  examined. 

The  characteristics  of  nocturnal  hallucinations,  somnambu- 
lism and  ecstasy,  differ  from  hallucinations. 


462  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

Hallucinations  are  distinguished  from  illusions  under  certain 
relations. 

Hallucinations  are  sometimes  difficult  of  discovery  from  the 
different  forms  which  insanity  assumes. 

Prognosis.  —  Single  hallucinations  which  appear  suddenly  : 
those  uncomhined  with  insanity  ;  the  hallucinations  of  delirium 
tremens,  and  of  febrile  delirium,  are,  in  general,  very  easily 
cured. 

The  hallucinations  caused  by  narcotic  substances  disappear  so 
soon  as  the  substance  ceases  to  act  on  the  system. 

Monomania  of  a  lively  character,  and  of  recent  occurrence, 
is  only  slightly  influenced  by  hallucinations  ;  it  is  otherwise  in 
that  of  a  mournful  character,  Avhich  frequently  receives  from 
them  the  most  unfortunate  impulses. 

The  prognoses  are  varied  according  to  the  form  of  insanity. 
Hallucinations  may  be  dangerous  in  mania  by  the  acts  which 
they  incite. 

The  hallucinations  of  puerperal  mania,  of  acute  dementia,  and 
of  dementia,  possess  only  a  relative  influence,  excepting  in  some 
rare  examples.  It  is  the  same  in  dementia  with  general  paralysis. 

Hallucinations  of  long  existence  add  to  the  seriousness  of  the 
prognosis.  The  fact  that  some  very  prolonged  hallucinations 
have  been  cured  cannot  alter  the  rule. 

The  nature  of  hallucinations  is  modified  by  their  prolonged 
duration. 

The  prognosis  of  simple  hallucinations  is  more  favorable  than 
those  of  general  hallucination. 

The  prognosis  of  hallucinations  compatible  with  reason  is  of 
slight  consequence,  especially  when  they  last  but  a  short  time. 

Hallucinations  of  nervous  diseases  other  than  insanity,  such  as 
hypochondria  and  epilepsy,  augment  the  serious  nature  of  these 
affections.  In  acute  inflammatory,  chronic,  and  other  diseases, 
hallucinations  are  in  general  transient,  but  they  should  not  be 
the  less  carefully  watched.  It  is  often  difficult  to  eradicate  hal- 
lucinations which  are  combined  with  certain  illusions. 


CHAPTER    XIX. 

TREATMENT   OF   HALLUCINATIONS.* 

Opinions  of  MM.  Esquirol,  Lelut,  and  Calmeil — Opinion  of  Leuret— Sequestration 
— Two  divisions  :  1st.  Physical  treatment — Use  ofdatnra  stramonium — Halluci- 
nations sometimes  svtddenly  cured — Electricity — 2d.  Moral  treatment — Author's 
method — Leuret's  method — Objections — Treatment  of  hallucinations  in  the 
diseases  which  they  characterize — Recapitulation. 

It  is  only  of  late  that  the  treatment  of  hallucinations  in  France 
has  attracted  much  of  the  attention  of  practitioners.  This  was 
the  natural  result  of  an  opinion,  universally  admitted,  that  they 
were  only  a  symptom  of  insanity.f  The  subject  had,  however, 
been  the  substance  of  several  works  ;  and  we  are  surprised  at 
not  finding  any  chapter  relative  to  their  treatment  in  the  im- 
portant works  of  Ferriar,  Hibbert,  Esquirol,  and  Jacobi.|  The 
French  author  declares  that  they  do  not  require  any  particular 
treatment  ;  he  nevertheless  adds  that  they  should  be  espe- 
cially considered  in  the  intellectual  and  moral  management  of 
the  alienated,  and  in  the  therapeutic  views  that  might  be  pro- 
posed. The  two  English  physicians  have  not  been  more  explicit, 
and  the  German  philosopher,  although  the  cases  he  relates  are 
interesting,  does  not  propose  any  new  plan  for  their  treatment. 

M.  Lelut  reports  several  cases  of  sensorial  insanity  treated 
by  physical  agency,  where   reasonings  and  moral  impressions 

*  It  must  not  be  lost  sight  of,  that  hallucination  being  generally  united 
to  some  one  of  the  forms  of  alienation,  what  we  may  say  of  the  treatment 
will  frequently  apply  to  both  maladies  ;  the  distinction  will  be  particularly 
recognized  in  the  means  employed  against  false  ideas  {idées  fausses). 

f  We  regret  that  we  have  not  been  able  to  procure  the  lectures  of  Gall, 
on  hallucinations.  They  were  published  in  the  Gazette  de  France,  in 
1807,  1808,  or  1809. 

Î  Jacobi,  Bemerkungen  liber  das  studium  der  mit  irrseyn  Verbundenen 
Krankheiten,  in  seinem  beobachtungen  liber  die  pathol.  und  therap.  der 
mit  irrseyn  Verbundenen  Krankheiten,  1  Bd.  pp.  1-24,  Elberfeld,  1830. 


464  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

were  likely  to  prove,  and,  in  fact,  had  proved  entirely  useless. 
All  the  experiments  were  unsuccessful. 

M.  Calmeil,  in  concluding  his  excellent  work  on  hallu- 
cinations, thus  expresses  himself:  "We  will  return  to  this  sub- 
ject, the  treatment  of  which,  above  all,  enters  into  that  of 
hypochondria  and  the  different  kinds  of  monomania."  Now, 
in  his  article  Ilypochondrie,  it  is  in  nowise  mentioned  ; 
and  in  his  article  Monomanie,  he  says,  speaking  of  sensorial 
monomania:  "It  is  especially  in  this  species  of  insanity,  in 
monomania  with  hallucinations,  that  patients  have  been  instan- 
taneously cured,  by  skilfully  throwing  a  snake,  frog,  or  slug  into 
the  basin  destined  to  receive  their  dejections,  at  the  moment 
when  they  were  preparing  to  eject,  either  by  the  mouth  or 
otherwise,  the  imagined  animals  which  they  insisted  were  living 
within  them."  We  are  far,  however,  says  the  author,  from 
anticipating  habitual  success  in  the  employment  of  similar 
stratagems,  which  are,  happily,  of  easy  accomplishment.  In 
general,  physical  lesions,  which  give  rise  to  partial  delirium,  do 
not  yield  with  so  much  facility  to  external  impressions,  and  a 
physician,  whose  practice  is  amongst  monomaniacs,  soon  learns 
the  use  that  must  be  made  of  a  multitude  of  remedies  from 
which  an  enthusiastic  mind  presages  much  success. 

Such  was  the  state  of  science,  when  a  man  of  ingenious 
mind  and  remarkable  sagacity,  sweeping  away  all  that  had 
been  previously  effected,  announced  that  hallucinations,  hitherto 
abandoned  to  the  sole  efforts  of  nature,  were  susceptible  of 
treatment  and  cure,  and  that  this  desirable  end  could  be  ac- 
complished by  attacking  them  boldly,  harassing  them  inces- 
santly, and  forcing  them  to  acknowledge  themselves  beaten. 
This  scientific  opinion  met  with  much  opposition.  But  when  the 
excitement  was  somewhat  calmed,  Lélut's  book  was  acknow- 
ledged to  exhibit  a  powerful  Avill,  numberless  mental  resources, 
and  happy  applications  of  a  new  method  of  therapeutics. 

Experience  has  verified  the  worth  of  this  method.  It  was 
proved  to  be  not  of  such  universal  application  as  its  author 
imagined,  Avho  had  experimented  on  the  hospital  patients.  It 
was  manifest  that  in  private  establishments,  especially  destined 
for  those  in  whom  education  and  the  position  of  fortune  had 
developed  the  exercise  of  the  will,  and,  by  consequence,  the 


TREATMENT  OF  HALLUCINATIONS.  465 

passion  of  pride,  the  origin  of  much  insanity,  it  was  needful 
that  the  treatment  of  the  physician  of  Bicetre  should  be  con- 
siderably modij&ed. 

With  this  reservation,  we  are  amongst  the  first  to  say  that 
this  method  is  destined  to  be  of  signal  service,  and  that  we  shall 
have  recourse  to  it  whenever  we  consider  it  available. 

In  studying  the  causes  of  hallucinations,  it  was  easy  to  per- 
ceive that  they  demanded  more  attention,  and  more  active 
means,  than  had  hitherto  been  applied. 

The  treatment  of  the  symptom  must  not  be  disdained,  and 
there  are  few  diseases  in  which  it  is  not  often  the  sole  resource 
of  the  practitioner. 

The  treatment  of  hallucinations  is  not,  however,  so  entirely 
negative  as  Leuret  has  endeavored  to  maintain  in  his  work. 
Certainly,  there  exist  neither  rules,  systems,  nor  doctrine;  but, 
in  carefully  looking  over  works  on  mental  alienation,  we  find 
many  cases  of  hallucinations  to  have  been  cured  by  physical 
and  moral  means.  These  facts,  confirmed  by  practice,  the  study 
of  causes  and  of  symptoms,  lead  us,  without  farther  preamble, 
to  propose  two  divisions  of  treatment,  the  first  comprising 
physical,  the  second  moral  means. 

Before  we  enter  on  the  developments  belonging  to  the  sub- 
ject, we  must  speak  of  the  place  in  which  the  treatment  should 
be  pursued.  Must  the  hallucinated  be  isolated  ?  Can  they  be 
treated  at  their  own  homes  ?  By  Leuret's  method  sequestration 
is  evidently  necessary.  In  order  to  oblige  a  patient  to  acknow- 
ledge himself  wrong,  it  is  indispensable  for  him  to  understand 
that  some  one  has  authority  over  him,  and  that  he  is  not  master 
of  his  will  ;  without  these  conditions,  obedience  is  impossible. 
The  species  of  hallucination,  its  long  standing,  and  its  compli- 
cations also  establish  important  diiferences.  Is  the  necessity  of 
isolation  always  indicated  ?  This  is  the  first  question,  to  which 
we  will  reply  by  examples. 

Case  CLI.  An  English  navy  officer  having  devoted  himself 
ardently  to  telescopic  observations,  imagined  he  had  made 
remarkable  discoveries  in  the  sun.  Amongst  other  strange 
assertions,  he  solemnly  declared  that,  at  the  time  of  Napoleon's 
abdication,  in  1814,  he  had  seen  the  figure  of  the  Emperor  in 
that  planet;  that  on  the  following  day  he  had  again  seen  it,  but 
transformed  into  a  skeleton.  On  the  third  day,  the  figure  was 
30 


466  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

no  longer  visible  ;  but  the  united  colors  of  the  allies  were  alone 
distinctly  seen.  A  copy  of  these  apparitions  was  regularly 
entered  on  the  ship's  books,  and  it  is  said  that  several  sailors 
bore  witness  to  the  truth  of  the  observations.  Notwithstanding 
this  corroboration,  very  few  persons  put  any  faith  in  the  discovery, 
and  the  ofiScer  had  the  mortification  to  find  that  the  whole  was 
regarded  as  a  fallacy.  There  is  no  doubt  that  these  illusions 
were  perfectly  inoffensive,  that  they  did  not  interfere  with  the 
operations  of  his  mind  in  the  ordinary  business  of  life,  nor  pre- 
vent the  fulfilment  of  his  duties. 

Conolly,  from  whom  we  have  borrowed  this  case,  adds  that 
individuals  ought  not  to  be  confined  because  they  hold  particular 
or  even  eccentric  ideas,  on  certain  subjects,  otherwise  a  new 
field  would  be  open  for  arbitrary  measures.  A  man  may  be 
accounted  singular,  even  insane,  for  believing  in  the  existence 
of  two  worlds,  the  one  invisible,  the  other  visible  ;  that  there  is 
no  such  thing  as  solitude  ;  that  every  secluded  spot  is  filled  with 
spirits;  that  there  is  no  act,  howsoever  secret,  but  has  numerous 
witnesses.  Nevertheless,  in  avowing  this,  he  says  nothing  but 
what  has  been  taught  him  by  religion  ;  but  if  he  goes  one  step 
farther,  if  he  professes  to  communicate  with  these  invisible 
beings,  he  runs  the  risk  of  being  looked  on  as  a  madman, 
although  many  great  men  have  believed  in  the  reality  of  such 
things  ;  he  is,  in  fact,  under  the  influence  of  hallucination  ;  he 
has  allowed  his  thoughts  to  assume  a  bodily  form  ;  comparison 
and  judgment  are  disordered.  But,  although  unreasonable  on 
this  point,  if  his  conduct  be  correct,  and  his  actions  irreproach- 
able, no  one  has  a  right  to  interfere  in  his  affairs,  to  call  him  to 
account  for  his  opinions,  and  still  less  to  confine  him. 

Thus,  whenever  hallucination  is  inofiensive,  isolation  is  unne- 
cessary ;  but  this  is  no  longer  the  case  if  it  be  prejudicial  to 
himself  or  to  others  ;  sequestration  is  then  indispensable. 
Examples  of  mutilation,  suicide,  homicide,  theft,  and  incendia- 
rism are  so  common  among  the  hallucinated,  that  it  is  needless 
to  insist  on  them. 

In  regard  to  treatment,  does  not  hallucination,  even  if  in- 
offensive, require  isolation  when  it  has  resisted  the  usual  means 
employed  in  such  cases  ? 

It  is  not  thus,  when  hallucination,  howsoever  transitory,  may 
result  in  serious  consequences. 


TREATMEXT  OF  HALLUCINATIONS.  467 

Case  CLII.  "We  were  consulted  some  years  since  by  a  young 
lady  artist,  whose  husband  had  very  short  epileptic  attacks, 
which  were  immediately  followed  by  mental  alienation.  He 
believed  himself  surrounded  by  menacing  figures,  and  flames, 
and  said  that  he  saw  spirits.  In  one  of  these  paroxysms,  he 
seized  his  wife  by-  the  throat  and  would  have  strangled  her,  but 
she  escaped.  At  another  time,  he  asked  for  a  poniard  to 
destroy  the  enemies  whom  he  believed  surrounded  him. 

It  is  easy  to  conceive  the  alarm  which  these  two  attacks  occa- 
sioned the  young  wife.  "lean  no  longer  endure," she  said,  "such 
a  state  of  life.  My  sleep  is  disturbed  by  frightful  dreams  ;  every 
instant  I  seem  to  feel  the  shocks  which  precede  those  paroxysms. 
I  study  his  slightest  movements;  it  occupies  my  whole  attention; 
my  powers  are  paralyzed,  my  voice  is  weakened,  I  can  no  longer 
follow  my  profession.  Come,  sir,  to  my  aid  !  do  not  abandon 
me  in  so  cruel  a  position  ;  in  the  name  of  Heaven,  have  pity  on 
my  fate!"  The  agitation  of  the  lady,  the  tone  of  her  voice, 
and  the  expression  of  her  eyes,  spoke  more  than  words  could 
do. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  husband,  having  recovered  himself, 
exhibited  no  sign  of  derangement  in  his  faculties  ;  his  conversa- 
tion was  sensible  ;  he  knew  that  he  had  been  deceived  by  illu- 
sions. "When  I  suffer  thus,"  he  added,  "it  appears  as  if  my 
ideas  are  confused  ;  my  head  becomes  a  chaos  in  which  I  can 
distinguish  nothing." 

Young,  fond  of  his  wife,  and  not  considering  his  indisposition 
dangerous,  he  was  placed  in  a  difficult  situation,  and  his  medical 
adviser  no  less  so. 

It  was  evident  that  the  kind  of  disease  with  which  this  young 
man  was  afflicted  was  most  serious,  for  experience  has  but  too 
often  proved  what  catastrophes  have  arisen  from  mad  and  hal- 
lucinated epileptics.  The  moral  condition  of  the  woman  required 
consideration  ;  in  fact,  a  few  degrees  farther  would  bring  suicide 
or  madness.  Isolation,  then,  was  indispensable  ;  I  advised  it  ; 
but  taking  into  consideration  the  brevity  of  his  attacks,  and  his 
rapid  return  to  reason,  I  did  not  think  it  necessary  to  recom- 
mend a  private  retreat.  I  engaged  his  friends  to  point  out  to 
him  the  necessity  of  a  separation  of  some  months  from  his  wife, 
and  to  take  an  oath  to  that  effect,  which  plan  was  carried  out. 
With  our  laws,  sequestration  was,  in  this  case,  impossible  ; 
and  yet  what  reliance  could  be  placed  on  the  word  of  a  man 


468  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

whose  disease  might  at  any  moment  derange  his  reason,  and  who 
was,  moreover,  much  enamored  of  his  wife  ? 

Section  fikst.  —  Physical  Treatment. — The  intimate  con- 
nection which  unites  the  two  constituent  principles  of  man  suf- 
fices to  show  that  each  in  its  turn  may  be  influenced,  and  that 
thence  it  is  necessary  to  have  recourse  to  therapeutic  means  ap- 
plicable to  both.  Let  us  take  a  few  examples:  A  female  yields 
to  the  immoderate  use  of  fermented  liquors  ;  she  has  hallucina- 
tions ;  simple  isolation  is  sometimes  sufficient  to  eifect  a  cure  ;  but 
often  we  must  resort  to  opium,  bleeding,  baths,  etc.  Another 
thinks  she  sees  the  devil  ;  reasoning,  raillery,  and  the  douche 
may  eradicate  the  false  sensation.  In  general,  it  is  necessary 
to  use  both  methods,  in  consequence  of  the  reciprocal  action  of 
the  two  principles.  An  individual  suffers  violent  grief,  which 
he  attributes  to  one  of  his  enemies  ;  soon  this  particular  person, 
or  some  other  fantastic  form  takes  entire  possession  of  him  ;  he 
no  longer  sleeps,  his  blood  becoming  heated,  to  use  a  common 
expression,  secretions  and  excretions  are  deranged.  In  this 
case,  should  not  physical  remedies  precede  moral  means  ?  What 
reason  teaches,  experience  demonstrates. 

The  academician,  Nicolai,  subject  to  sanguine  congestions, 
which  required  the  use  of  bleeding,  neglected  this  precaution  ; 
phantoms  of  all  kinds  unceasingly  beset  him.  He  Avas  bled,  and 
restored  to  peace  and  quietness. 

Case  CLIII.  A  lodging-house  keeper,  of  a  powerful  consti- 
tution, a  sanguine  temperament,  who,  from  time  to  time,  in- 
dulged in  excesses,  was  taken  twenty-four  years  ago  to  the 
private  mad-house  of  Madame  Marcel  de  Saint  Colombe,  where 
I  was  visiting  physician.  He  was  much  flushed,  his  eye  was 
wild  and  brilliant.  He  explained,  under  great  agitation,  that 
his  aunt  had  let  a  part  of  his  house  to  the  keepers  of  a  mena- 
gerie (an  error),  which  had  exceedingly  annoyed  him.  "  One 
of  them,"  he  added,  "has,  at  three  different  times,  insulted  my 
wife  ;  this  conduct  incensed  me  ;  I  rushed  on  the  villain  ;  but 
although  he  changed  himself  into  a  horse,  and  diminished  in 
size,  it  did  not  prevent  me  from  killing  him." 

This  patient  had,  besides,  hallucinations  of  sight  ;  he  mis- 
named us  all,  and  saw  monsters  and  strange  shapes  in  the  air. 
Perhaps  he  metamorphosed  the   clouds  into   his    conceptions. 


TREATMENT  OF  HALLUCINATIONS.  469 

His  excitement  was  so  great  that  we  were  obliged  to  put  on  him 
the  strait  waistcoat.  I  had  his  head  shaved,  put  thirty  leeches 
on  the  sagittal  suture,  and  on  the  following  day  he  was  placed 
in  the  bath.  In  two  days  his  symptoms  were  much  ameliorated. 
To  these  means  were  added  purgatives,  alternately  with  baths. 
In  eight  days  from  his  admission  to  the  house,  he  had  entirely 
recovered  the  use  of  his  intellectual  faculties. 

In  the  article  Hypocliondria,  we  have  stated  the  case  of  a 
German  professor,  who  imagined  himself  to  be  under  magnetic 
influence,  and  believed  that  a  magnetizer  was  lodged  within  him. 
To  divert  his  ideas,  and  at  the^same  time  to  relieve  the  pains  of 
which  he  complained  in  the  abdomen  and  stomach,  I  placed  two 
large  blisters  on  his  legs.  His  countenance,  which  had  been 
very  sad,  soon  assumed  a  more  cheerful  expression  ;  he  ceased 
to  speak  of  his  false  sensations  ;  and  the  distraction  caused  by 
intellectual  employment  completed  his  cure. 

One  of  our  patients  was  persuaded  that  several  men  had  en- 
tered his  room  with  evil  intentions  towards  him.  Full  of  rage 
at  this  idea,  he  endeavored  to  provoke  them,  and  applied  to 
them  the  most  disgraceful  epithets  ;  as  they  continued  to  jeer  at 
him,  he  called  loudly  for  a  knife  to  kill  his  persecutors.  The 
treatment  consisted  in  purgatives  and  baths  ;  and  in  one  month 
from  his  entrance  he  was  restored  in  health  to  his  family. 

Mademoiselle  C.  lost  her  senses  owing  to  a  disappointment 
in  love  ;  she  fancied  her  lover  was  constantly  by  her  side;  per- 
ceived him  in  heaven,  in  the  clouds,  called  him  by  the  tenderest 
names  ;  she  addressed  him  and  he  replied  to  her.  This  young 
lady  was  taken  daily  to  the  bath,  where  she  remained  four,  five, 
and  six  hours,  receiving  the  water  on  her  head  by  means  of  con- 
tinued irrigation  ;  on  the  fourth  day  the  hallucinations  ceased, 
and  in  one  week  she  was  perfectly  cured. 

Sanguine  emissions  are  at  times  useful,  but  must  not  be  used 
too  prodigally;  without  referring  to  the  serious  results  men- 
tioned by  Pinel,  and  the  truth  of  which  can  be  attested  by  all 
physicians  of  the  insane,  experience  proves  that  a  patient  may 
be  bled  even  to  syncope,  without  any  change  being  effected  in 
the  ideas. 

Case  CLIV.  A  medical  doctor  had  hallucinations  of  sight 
and  hearing.  He  entreated  Esquirol  to  bleed  him.  The  physi- 
cian of  Charenton  long  resisted,  but  vanquished  finally  by  his 


470  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

importunities,  complied  -with  his  wishes.  Scarcely  had  the 
assistant  retired  than  he  tore  off  the  handages,  and  filled  several 
vessels  with  blood,  when,  feeling  much  weakened,  he  lay  down 
on  the  bed,  still  bleeding  profusely.  On  the  return  of  the  attend- 
ant, the  patient  was  found  in  a  state  of  exhaustion.  He  was, 
at  length  recovered,  but  remained  quite  blind.  Notwithstand- 
ing the  loss  of  blood,  and  the  privation  of  sight,  there  was  no 
modification  in  the  delirium.  The  hallucinations  preserved  their 
energy,  continuity,  and  character.  We  are  acquainted  with  the 
sister  of  an  esteemed  artist,  who,  after  too  copious  a  bleeding, 
was  confined  to  her  bed  for  eighteen  months,  with  a  gradual 
diminution  of  sight  ;  the  same  phenomenon  was  manifested  in 
the  muscular  system,  and  the  fine  power  of  execution  which  she 
had  previously  had  on  the  piano,  was,  by  this  means,  greatly 
weakened. 

Hallucinations  have  sometimes  been  cured  by  violent  methods 
repulsive  to  humanity,  but  of  which  many  examples  are  extant. 

Case  CLV.  A  carpenter,  of  Anvers,  imagined  during  the 
night  that  he  saw  horrible  spectres  ;  the  terror  which  he  expe- 
rienced was  so  great  that  he  went  mad.  He  was  sent  to  the 
tomb  of  Saint  Dympna,  a  virgin,  who  had  the  reputation  of 
curing  the  bewitched.  There  he  remained  for  one  year,  during 
which  time  he  M'as  subjected  to  all  the  treatment  usually  given 
to  maniacs.  But,  as  his  board  was  no  longer  paid,  he  was  sent 
home  bound,  in  a  cart.  During  the  journey,  having  succeeded 
in  breaking  loose,  he  jumped  out  into  a  deep  pond,  which  was 
by  the  roadside.  The  drivers  succeeded,  after  awhile,  in  drag- 
ging him  out,  and  replaced  him  half  dead  on  the  cart.  He 
nevertheless  recovered,  and  lived  for  eighteen  years  completely 
cured  of  his  insanity.* 

The  case  is  interesting  in  connection  with  the  spot,  for  Saint 
Dympna  was  revered  in  the  village  of  Gheel,  in  Belgium,  where 
there  is  still  a  large  establishment  for  the  insane,  of  some  cele- 
brity; it  proves,  besides,  that,  under  some  circumstances,  an 
abrupt  emotion,  or  energetic  therapeutic  method,  has  sufficed 
to  restore  reason  suddenly.  | 

*  Vanhelmont,  Démens  Idea,  49,  oper.  p.  175. 

t  Brierre  de  Boismont,  Remarques  sur  quelques  établissements  d'aliénés 
de  la  Belgique,  de  la  Hollande,  et  de  l'Angleterre,  1847,  pp.  8  et  20. 


TREATMENT  OF  HALLUCINATIONS.  471 

An  emetic,  or  a  purgative,  may  sometimes  cause  the  cessa- 
tion of  liallucinations.  The  use  of  baths,  or  of  the  douche, 
deserves  special  mention.  Under  Leuret's  practice,  the  douche 
has  more  than  once  obliged  the  patient  to  recognize  the  fallacy 
of  his  ideas.  Other  practitioners  have  not  been  so  fortunate. 
Sometimes  even  the  patients  have  acknowledged  all  that  was 
required  of  them,  in  order  to  escape  what  they  called  the 
punishment  of  the  douche. 

This  means  offers,  however,  useful  resources,  but  it  must  be 
carefully  regulated.  If  the  hallucination  be  recent,  and  the 
character  of  the  patient  timid  and  fearful,  the  impression  caused 
by  a  column  of  water  may  instantly  change  the  current  of  his 
ideas.  "When  persuasion,  kindness,  and  raillery  have  failed  in 
effecting  this  in  a  patient,  whose  position  in  life  has  accustomed 
him  to  the  exercise  of  his  own  will,  the  douche,  prescribed  and 
executed  with  a  great  show  of  preparation,  has,  in  some  cases, 
succeeded.  The  probabilities  would  be  fewer  with  a  person  of 
strong  will  and  energy,  especially  if  the  hallucinations  were  of 
long  standing.  It  would  be  the  same  in  a  case  complicated  with 
insanity,  particularly  if  the  monomania  were  of  a  gloomy  charac- 
ter with  a  tendency  to  suicide.  The  hallucinations  of  mania, 
dementia,  and  general  paralysis  will  rarely  be  alleviated  by  the 
douche.  In  one  class  of  cases,  the  douche,  far  from  ameliorat- 
ing, would  aggravate  the  symptoms. 

For  the  douche,  we  have  substituted  continued  irrigation. 
The  water  falls  for  hours  together  in  a  thin  streamlet,  or  through 
small  perforations,  on  to  the  head  of  the  patient  in  the  bath. 
The  effect  produced  by  this  continual  aspersion  is,  first,  to  keep 
up  a  constantly  fresh  temperament  on  the  congested  organ, 
without  occasioning  the  symptoms  caused  by  ice.  And,  secondly, 
it  harasses  the  patient,  who  often  asks  to  be  released. 

We  have  observed  the  same  effects  from  continued  irrigation 
that  others  have  noticed  from  the  douche.  After  some  hours  of 
this  treatment,  these  patients  have  entreated  to  be  taken  from 
the  bath,  admitting  that  they  had  talked  nonsense  before,  but 
were  now  entirely  cured. 

Case  CLVI.  A  lady,  hallucinated  after  her  confinement, 
imagined  that  she  saw  a  large  figure  in  white  which  accompanied 
her  everywhere.  Her  medical  attendant  recommended  the 
application  of  leeches  on  the  neck  and  the  use  of  baths.     But 


472  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

the  patient  became  more  violent,  and  it  was  feared  would  throw 
herself  from  the  window. 

Her  physician  then  recommended  her  being  placed  in  my 
establishment.  I  had  her  immediately  placed  in  the  bath.  For 
two  hours  the  water  flowed  on  her  head.  On  my  entering, 
"Sir!"  she  exclaimed,  "pray  let  me  out  of  this  place;  the 
water  that  falls  on  my  head  is  insuiFerable  ;  I  know  it  is  done 
because  I  was  mad;  but,  thank  God,  I  am  so  no  longer;  do  not 
leave  me  here." 

Before  yielding  to  her  wishes,  I  asked  what  had  become  of 
the  great  white  figure.     "I  see  it  no  more  ;  it  was  an  illusion." 

This  lady  having  given  rational  replies  to  all  my  questions, 
was  conducted  to  her  room  ;  and  in  eight  days  returned  to  her 
family  quite  cured. 

Such,  however,  are  not  always  the  happy  results  ;  we  have 
frequently  seen  the  false  ideas  return  after  having  momentarily 
ceased.  In  other  circumstances,  again,  the  false  sensation  has 
disappeared,  but  insanity  has  remained. 

"VVe  have  found  so  much  benefit  in  irrigation,  that  we  have 
employed  it  in  all  cases  in  which  it  has  appeared  to  us  practi- 
cable, and  the  cures  that  we  have  effected  by  associating  it  with 
prolonged  baths,  have  been  so  numerous  and  so  rapid,  that  we 
believe  we  have  rendered  essential  service  to  the  therapeutics  of 
mental  maladies  in  pointing  out  the  circumstances  under  which 
these  means  ought  to  be  employed. 

The  cases  which  we  have  described  can  leave  no  doubt  of  the 
efficacy  of  physical  agents.  How  do  they  act?  In  the  greater 
number  of  cases,  in  calming  the  symptoms  of  excitation.  It  is 
because  sufficient  attention  has  not  been  paid  to  this  period  of 
the  malady,  that  contrary  opinions  have  been  held.  When  the 
excitement  is  relieved,  either  by  the  remedies  used,  or  from  the 
effect  of  time,  great  advantages  may  be  obtained  by  moral 
treatment. 

But  before  entering  on  this  part  of  the  subject,  it  will  be  well 
to  say  a  few  words  on  the  medication  proposed  some  years  since 
by  Dr.  Moreau,  of  Tours,  physician  to  the  insane  in  Bicetre. 
This  mode  of  treatment,  which  has  some  affinity  to  homœopathy, 
since  it  is  founded  on  the  property  which  the  datura  possesses 
to  cause  hallucinations  and  illusions,  was  employed  on  those, 
who,  if  they  could  not  be  declared  incurable,  were  yet  in  condi- 


TREATMENT  OF  HALLUCINATIONS.  473 

tions  more  or  less  deplorable.  Seven  were  cured,  three  expe- 
rienced only  a  transient  amelioration.  The  cures  were  obtained 
in  four,  seven  days,  and  one  month,  with  moderate  doses  of 
extract  of  clarified  sugar  of  stramonium,  one  decigramme  night 
and  morning  ;  for  five,  eight,  or  fifteen  days,  by  increased  doses, 
3  decigrammes  in  a  potion,  taking  a  spoonful  every  hour  ;  in 
twenty-four  hours,  for  very  powerful  doses,  1  decigramme  of 
extract,  administered  hourly,  until  physiological  effects  were 
observed. 

According  to  the  author,  they  generally  appear  after  the 
administration  of  3  decigrammes.  The  use  of  datura  in  a 
large  dose  requires  extreme  caution.  The  patient  must  not  be 
lost  sight  of  for  a  moment,  in  order  that  the  effect  of  the  remedy 
may  be  watched  and  the  symptoms  combated,  if  they  threaten 
to  overpass  normal  limits.* 

From  the  precautions  required,  it  is  evident  that  such  a 
medicament  cannot  be  used  without  great  circumspection. 
There  is,  moreover,  a  serious  objection  to  it,  which  is,  that  it 
has  not  realized  the  same  fortunate  results  in  the  practice  of 
other  physicians  which  it  did  in  that  of  M.  Moreau.  In  this 
case,  the  suspension  of  hallucinations  appears  to  us  to  depend 
also  on  the  action  of  the  medicament.  In  experiencing  the 
more  or  less  varied  symptoms  which  it  causes  on  the  economy, 
the  hallucinated  person  feels  himself  drawn  into  another  train 
of  ideas  ;  the  tingling  in  the  ears,  the  buzzings,  the  nausea,  the 
vertigoes  and  faintings,  occasioned  by  the  datura,  surprise, 
astonish,  and  oblige  him  to  reflect,  and  for  a  moment  the  false 
sensation  is  forgotten. 

The  selection  of  cases  which  we  make  is  of  no  minor  im- 
portance ;  for  if,  in  the  example  we  are  about  to  give,  the  medi- 
cament had  been  hastily  administered,  a  cure  would  have  been 
attributed  to  it,  due  only  to  the  efforts  of  nature. 

Case  CLVII.  A.  lost  his  wife,  who  died  a  victim  to  his  ill- 
usage.  He  became  sombre  and  morose  ;  and  suddenly  in  the 
night  experienced  hallucinations.  He  saw  moving  corpses  and 
hideous  phantoms,  who  came  down  in  procession  from  the  ceil- 
ing, and,  one  after  the  other,  pulled  him  by  the  feet  ;  at  other 
times  he  was  transported  to  the  borders  of  the  sea,  heard  the 

*  Journal  des  Connaissances  Médicales  Pratiques,  Fev.,  1842,  p.  134, 
Analyse  de  M.  Bouchardat. 


474  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

moaning  of  the  waves,  and  saw  the  steamboats  rapidly  plough- 
ing the  main;  then  the  scene  suddenly  «hanged,  and  enormous 
serpents  sprang  on  him,  entwining  him  in  their  vast  folds,  and 
stinging  him  in  the  abdomen.  On  the  following  night,  his  vi- 
sions were  of  horses,  who  made  the  roof  crack  with  their  stamp- 
ing. As  soon  as  he  closed  his  eyes,  hoping  to  shut  out  these  » 
frightful  visions,  the  fantastic  panorama  unrolled  itself  before 
him  with  still  greater  strength  and  rapidity. 

With  the  day,  peace  returned,  and  A.  seemed  to  revive,  feel- 
ing, as  he  said,  relieved  in  a  manner  which  it  was  impossible  to 
describe.  The  approach  of  night  plunged  him  into  the  greatest 
anxiety,  and  his  alarm  became  such  that  he  made  his  little  girl 
of  ten  years  old  sleep  by  him,  who  had  vainly  tried  to  persuade 
him  of  the  falseness  of  these  apparitions.  She  observed  naively 
to  me,  says  the  physician  :  "I  might  well  stare,  for  I  could  see 
neither  boats  nor  serpents." 

On  the  13th  of  November,  in  the  night,  A.  was  found  doubled 
up  in  a  corner  of  his  room,  his  hands  joined  in  a  suppliant  pos- 
ture ;  he  was  immovable  ;  his  look  Avas  fixed,  and  expressive  of 
terror  ;  he  prayed  the  demon  to  have  pity  on  him,  and  not  per- 
secute him  so  severely.  On  the  following  morning,  at  day- 
break, he  left  home  in  a  state  of  great  exasperation  ;  his  clothes 
were  in  disorder,  his  looks  haggard;  weeping,  he  told  his  child 
he  was  going  to  confess  all  the  faults  he  had  committed,  for  he 
saw  the  good  God  required  it. 

On  the  15th,  he  was  conducted  by  the  police  to  the  asylum. 
On  the  first  days  of  his  sojourn,  the  hallucinations  persecuted 
him.  This  state  did  not  last  long  ;  a  remarkable  change  took 
place  in  his  mental  condition  ;  at  night,  he  slept  uninterruptedly  ; 
he  saw  nothing,  and  no  more  heard  a  voice  crying  from  the 
depths  of  his  heart,  that  he  should  kill  himself.  (The  treatment 
consisted  in  baths,  and  water  for  drink.) 

On  the  23d,  fresh  hallucinations  of  sight  assailed  him  during 
the  night  ;  he  saw  a  black  machine,  which  turned  rapidly  around, 
and  trees  which  danced  like  puppets.  Early  in  the  month  of 
December,  M.  Aubanel  carefully  interrogated  him;  he  found 
him  very  rational,  excepting  that  he  could  not  comprehend  that 
all  the  abnormal  phenomena  which  he  had  experienced  were 
caused  by  aberration  of  the  senses.  He  said  he  had  seen,  and 
truly  seen  them,  for  his  eyes  were  open,  and  he  was  awake.  On 
the  31st  of  the  same  month,  he  quitted  the  asylum  cured. 


TREATMENT  OF  HALLUCINATIONS.  475 

The  hallucinations  of  A.  were  primary  and  complicated,  with 
a  very  slight  intellectual  disturbance  ;  in  a  word,  the  case  was 
one  in  which  the  datura  stramonium  would  do  wonders.  This 
.remedy  was  about  to  be  tested,  when  M.  Aubanel,  in  his  dis- 
trust of  the  specific,  put  off  the  administration  of  the  first  doses 
for  a  few  days  ;  in  the  interval,  it  happened  that  the  organism 
brought  its  own  grand  resources  into  play,  and  the  cure  was 
effected  in  a  very  short  time  without  the  intervention  of  any 
therapeutic  agent.  Do  we  not  see  the  same  thing  occur  in 
many  analogous  cases  ?* 

Some  years  since,  M.  Mettevié  conceived  the  notion  of  attack- 
ing hallucinations  by  electricity.  He  effected  two  or  three  cures 
by  inserting  needles  in  the  membrane  of  the  tympanum.  This 
very  painful  method  was,  however,  so  difficult  that  he  discon- 
tinued his  attempts. 

M.  Baillarger  also  experimented  on  electricity;  he  made  the 
first  essay  on  himself,  and  saw  a  number  of  bluish  flashes  pass 
before  his  eyes;  the  sensation  affected  him  very  painfully.  As 
the  puncturing  of  the  membrane  of  the  tympanum  might  occa- 
sion serious  mischief,  he  invented  a  little  apparatus,  intended 
only  to  rest  on  the  membrane.  M.  Baillarger  believes  that  this 
means  acts,  by  producing  a  diversion  of  ideas,  more  or  less 
powerful,  and  that  it  is  only  in  this  manner  that  it  can  be  useful. 

Medicaments  occasionally  succeed  in  the  cure  of  hallucina- 
tions, not  by  their  therapeutic  effects,  but  by  breaking  the  chain 
of  ideas  in  the  patient. 

Case  CLVIII.  A  student  of  Berlin  having  always  enjoyed 
good  health,  returned  home  one  night  in  great  alarm,  and,  with 
pallid  countenance  and  bewildered  looks,  announced  that  he  was 
to  die  in  thirty-six  hours.  He  went  to  bed,  sent  for  a  minister, 
and  wrote  his  will.  Symptoms,  apparently  so  serious,  alarmed 
his  comrades  ;  Hufeland  was  called  in  ;  his  reasonings  were  una- 
vailing. This  celebrated  physician  prescribed  a  powerful  dose  of 
opium,  which  threw  the  youth  into  a  profound  sleep,  lasting  far 
beyond  the  fatal  term.  On  awaking,  the  date  of  the  day  and 
hour  being  proved  to  the  student,  he  found  that  he  had  been  the 
dupe  of  his  imagination;  his  mind  became  calmed,  his  fears 
dissipated,  and  he  returned  to  his  usual  gayety.     The  young 

*  M.  Estre,  Observations  recueillées  dans  le  service  de  M.  Aubanel,  Jour- 
nal I'Esculape,  1842. 


476  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

man  then  related  to  his  friends  that,  having  walked  out  in  the 
twilight,  he  saw  a  death's  head,  and  heard  a  voice  say  to  him  : 
"Thou  shalt  die  in  thirty-six  hours."* 

The  principal  physical  agents  employed  in  the  treatment  of 
hallucinations,  are  sanguine  emissions  made  at  stated  periods, 
prolonged  baths,  either  alone  or  with  the  douche,  irrigation,  and 
purgatives  ;  under  some  circumstances  emetics,  narcotics,  and 
antispasmodics,  and,  finally,  external  revulsives,  such  as  blister- 
ings,  moxa,  and  setons.  Many  other  remedies  have  been  ex- 
tolled ;  we  think  it  unnecessary  to  give  the  list.  One,  however, 
the  hot-water  treatment,  shall  be  mentioned  on  account  of  its 
author's  name.f  Manual  labor  is  often  a  powerful  auxiliary. 
It  sometimes  happens  that  patients  are  brought  into  the  hos- 
pitals, whose  insanity  appears  to  proceed  from  an  insufficiency 
of  food.  If  hallucinations  arise  from  this  cause,  good  nourish- 
ment should  be  prescribed.  And,  lastly,  we  recommend  a  care- 
ful notification  of  the  condition  of  all  the  organs,  and  the 
manner  in  which  the  functions  act. 

Section  second. — Moral  Treatment. — When  the  excitement 
is  calmed,  moral  means,  which  essentially  consist  in  producing 
novel  impressions,  in  rousing  the  affections,  and  fixing  the  atten- 
tion on  foreign  objects,  may  be  of  the  greatest  service.  The 
choice  of  these  must  necessarily  vary  according  to  the  educa- 
tion, mental  acquirement,  and  the  character  of  the  delirium  of 
the  hallucinated.  The  means  that  would  be  successful  with  a 
distinguished  man,  would  have  no  effect  on  one  of  mediocrity. 
The  artisan  would  not  understand  the  language  of  the  savant. 
A  woman  would  be  accessible  to  consolations  that  could  not  be 
lavished  on  the  other  sex.  The  use  of  moral  means  requires 
sagacity,  a  knowledge  of  men,  pliability  of  temper,  and  great 
perseverance.  In  this,  as  in  everything,  we  agree  in  the  maxim 
of  La  Fontaine  ; — 

"Patience  et  longueur  clu  temps 
Font  plus  q\ie  force  ni  que  rage,"| 

as  conducting  to  the  most  certain  results. 

*  Darwin,  Zoononiia,  t.  i.  p.  289. 

t  Du  Traitement  des  Hallucinations  par  l'eau  chaude.  Broussais, 
Annal,  de  Med. -Physiol.  Janvier,  182S. 

Time  and  patience  do  more  than  force  or  anger. 


TREATMENT  OF  HALLUCINATIONS.  477 

If  we  take  into  consideration  the  immense  part  that  ideas 
occupy  in  the  production  of  hallucinations,  we  shall  readily 
understand  that  to  them  we  must  have  recourse  for  the  cure  of 
the  false  sensation  which  is  the  torment  of  the  hallucinated. 

Shall  -we  be  contented  to  give  diet,  drinks,  purgatives,  and 
medicaments  to  this  man,  who  imagines  himself  a  teapot  ;  or  to 
that  other  one,  who  thinks  his  head  has  been  turned  round  ? 
Could  we  conquer  by  a  bath,  or  a  sanguine  emission,  the  con- 
viction of  that  hallucinated  man,  who  asserts,  in  gloomy  despair, 
that  he  is  everywhere  followed  by  his  Double,  who  plays  him 
the  most  treacherous  tricks,  ruins,  dishonors,  and  will  infallibly 
lead  him  to  the  tomb  ?  What  remedy  would  be  sufficiently 
energetic  to  chase  away  the  phantom  which  an  unhappy  be- 
ing has  ever  before  him,  especially  if  the  hallucination  is  caused 
by  remorse  of  conscience  ?  Will  the  douche  always  succeed  in 
conquering  the  obstinacy  of  that  melancholy  man,  who  would  die 
of  hunger,  rather  than  eat  the  food  he  fancies  to  be  poisoned, 
or  who  is  destroyed  by  pestilential  odors  ? 

Facts  exist  to  show  that  if,  in  some  cases,  the  remedy  dis- 
perses these  strange  ideas,  it  more  generally  only  combats  the 
symptoms  of  excitation,  and  leaves  the  chimeras  in  all  their 
force. 

A  lady  whom  we  attended,  endeavored  to  destroy  herself  in 
order  to  escape  the  pursuit  of  an  imaginary  enemy,  who  quitted 
her  neither  night  nor  day.  We  conjectured  that  the  periods 
were  irregular,  and  bled  her  in  the  foot.  On  the  following 
morning,  she  was  quite  an  altered  being  ;  all  the  distressing 
symptoms  had  ceased  ;  and  she  spoke  of  the  falsity  of  the 
sensations  she  had  experienced.  In  a  few  days  she  was  restored 
to  her  family. 

But  by  the  side  of  this  case  we  must  place  that  of  the  phy- 
sician mentioned  by  Esquirol,  and,  unfortunately,  such  are  the 
most  numerous.  After  a  judicious  therapeutic  medication,  calm 
is  re-established,  and  the  patient  conforms  to  the  customs  of  the 
house  ;  the  hallucination  has  not  changed,  but  he  speaks  less 
of  it.  It  is  then  that  the  physician  must  use  all  the  resources 
of  his  mind  to  attack  the  idea,  to  weaken  and  eradicate  it,  now 
by  direct,  now  by  indirect  methods,  but  always  by  a  happy 
'  mixture  of  kindness  and  firmness. 

These  precepts  we  will  now  apply  to  particular  cases. 


478  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

Case  CLIX.  Mademoiselle  Claire,  forty  years  of  age,  tall, 
brown,  spare,  and  sinewy,  had  always  enjoyed  good  health. 
This  lady,  religiously  brought  up,  of  sound  judgment,  very 
placid  disposition,  managing  her  affairs  with  excellent  sense, 
and  beloved  by  all  who  knew  her,  had  never  evinced  any  symp- 
toms of  insanity  until  about  eight  months  ago,  when  it  became 
perceptible  that  her  ideas  were  less  lucid.  Tw^o  years  previously 
she  had  suffered  a  violent  uterine  hemorrhage,  the  result  of  pro- 
longed fatigue.  Her  mind,  hitherto  powerful,  had  become 
restless  and  timid  ;  the  slightest  thing  disturbed  her.  This 
condition,  which  was  not  much  noticed  at  first,  made  rapid  pro- 
gress ;  she  lost  her  sleep,  and  uttered  such  violent  and  piercing 
shrieks  that  her  neighbors  were  alarmed.  No  one  could  rest 
near  to  her.  This  situation  demanded  instant  attention,  and 
Mademoiselle  Claire  was  transferred  to  my  establishment. 

To  my  interrogations,  she  replied,  that  she  had  committed  all 
imaginable  crimes.  "I  am,"  said  she,  "the  beast  spoken  of 
in  the  Apocalypse,  which  was  to  appear  in  1840  ;  God  has 
abandoned  me;  Satan  has  entered  into  me;  he  is  going  to  chase 
me  through  Paris."  There  was  no  evil  in  the  world  of  which 
she  was  not  the  author. 

To  whatever  was  said  to  her,  she  replied  that  she  was  lost. 
When  an  attempt  was  made  to  persuade  her  that  she  could  not 
be  so  guilty  as  she  pretended,  she  replied  that  if  she  had  not 
already  committed  these  crimes,  she  would  do  so.  lier  appetite 
was  good  ;  all  the  functions  acted  well  ;  but  her  countenance 
was  drawn,  haggard,  and  of  a  yellowish  cast  ;  her  breath  was 
offensive,  and  her  tongue  white;  her  sleep  was  short,  and  inter- 
rupted by  sharp  cries,  which  rang  through  the  house.  These 
shrieks  were  occasioned  by  the  sight  of  hell  and  the  devil,  by 
the  menaces  which  the  bad  spirits  addressed  to  her,  and  by  her 
dread  of  damnation.  At  times,  also,  during  the  day,  she  uttered 
yells.  It  would  seem  that  there  existed  some  internal  crisis 
whose  violence  suddenly  found  vent  in  this  manner. 

This  irresistible  desire  to  cry  out  exists  frequently  with 
females.  Sometimes  it  consists  in  barking,  howling,  groaning, 
or  mewing  ;  at  others,  in  shrieks  that  succeed  each  other  with 
the  rapidity  of  lightning.  You  may  be  in  tranquil  conversation 
with  the  patients  ;  nothing  intimates  the  approach  of  a  crisis  ; 
when,  in  the  midst  of  the  most  rational  discourse,  you  are  sur- 


TREATMENT  OF  HALLUCINATIONS.  479 

prised  bj  the  violence  and  suddenness  of  the  maniac  howlings. 
I  have  known  several  ladies  "who  were  no  sooner  under  the 
influence  of  this  singular  affection,  than  they  commenced  running 
with  all  speed,  to  take  refuge  in  some  lonely  spot,  where  they 
would  not  be  noticed.  They  have  afterwards  told  me  that  they 
obeyed  an  irresistible  impulse,  and  felt  no  relief  until  they  had 
uttered  their  shrieks.*  There  is  evidently  a  choraic  influence 
in  this  symptom. 

Madlle.  Claire  shunned  me,  because,  whilst  I  evinced  much 
interest  in  her,  I  likewise  rallied  her  on  her  singular  ideas  : 
"  How  is  it  possible,"  I  would  say,  "that  a  lady  of  your  good 
sense  can  imagine  she  sees  the  devil,  and  that  in  the  nine- 
teenth century  ?"  "  You  are,  then,  an  unbeliever  ?"  "  0  no  !  I 
believe;  but  not  in  your  idea."  I  would  then  leave  her,  after 
having  endeavored  to  excite  some  doubts  in  her  mind. 

At  other  times  I  would  content  myself  with  saying  :  "  All  my 
arguments  are  useless,  I  cannot  convince  you  ;  but  doctors  who 
attend  the  insane  have  long  known,  that  to  try  and  convince  a 
madman,  is  to  be  as  mad  as  he."  "  But  I  am  not  mad."  She 
would  then  follow  me  to  prove  the  reality  of  her  sensations.  I 
would  laugh,  but  say  nothing  more.  Sometimes  I  exclaimed 
against  her  pretence  of  having  committed  so  many  crimes.  "It 
is  either  pride,  or  madness."  She  then  made  attempts  to  per- 
suade me  that  she  was  in  her  right  mind.  I  listened  or  took  no 
notice  of  her,  according  to  the  mood  in  which  she  might  be. 

To  counteract  her  physical  excitement,  I  gave  her  baths  and 
refreshing  drinks.  The  hallucinations  tormented  her  unceas- 
ingly, although  she  forbore  to  speak  to  me  of  them  for  fear  of 
my  ridicule.  One  evening  she  was  with  my  little  daughter,  ten 
years  of  age  :  "Do  you  not  see  the  flames  that  come  out  of  my 
mouth?"  she  exclaimed;  "they  surround  me,  I  am  lost!"  My 
child  having  laughingly  replied  :  "  What  you  say  is  very  fool- 
ish ;"  she  laughed  also;  and  from  that  time  spoke  no  more  of 
flames. 

Madlle.  Claire  had  some  moments  of  relief,  but  the  hallucina- 
tions would  seem  to  return  with  increased  force,  particularly  in 
the  night,  when  she  would  cry  out:  "I  am  lost;  I  am  damned." 

*  A  Brierre  de  Boismont,  De  l'Imitation  du  Cri  des  Animaux  dans 
plusieurs  affections  nerveuses.    Gaz.  Méd.  8  Sept.,  1849. 


480  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

Neither  exhortation,  advice,  nor  reprimand  had  the  least  effect 
upon  her  ;  only,  when  most  harassed  by  such  attempts,  she  be- 
came less  confidential. 

As  Madlle.  Claire  was  at  a  critical  period  of  life,  and  the  ac- 
tion was  irregular,  I  proposed  a  blister  on  the  arm,  to  which  she 
willingly  acceded.  Amongst  her  delirious  fancies,  was  that  of  con- 
fessing to  any  person  with  whom  she  might  be  in  company  ;  and 
it  was  then  curious  to  hear  this  lady,  of  such  sound  judgment, 
accuse  herself  of  a  multitude  of  childish  follies  and  frivolities 
which  imbittered  her  life,  transformed  as  they  were  into  crimes, 
by  her  perverted  intellect.  How  could  such  a  change  have  oc- 
curred in  a  mind  until  now  so  healthy  ?  Her  fortune  was  suffi- 
cient ;  no  passion  disturbed  her  heart  ;  she  knew  no  grief;  and 
moral  causes,  which  I  consider  so  powerful,  had  no  existence  in 
this  case  ;  it  could  but  be  the  influence  of  that  constantly  recur- 
ring periodical  action  common  to  women.  I  suggested  the  idea 
to  my  patient,  who,  although  she  denied  that  she  was  insane, 
acknowledged  herself  to  be  suffering,  and  asserted  that  she 
should  never  be  cured.  The  idea  of  being  at  a  critical  time  of 
life,  seemed  to  impress  her,  and  I  frequently  recalled  it  to  her 
notice.* 

I  showed  her  much  kindness  ;  praised  her  sense,  her  judgment, 
at  the  same  time  I  expressed  my  astonishment  that  one  so  hap- 
pily organized  could  entertain  such  fancies.  Occasionally,  I 
gently  rallied  her  on  her  devils.  "You  may  laugh,"  she  would  say, 
*'  but  they  do  exist  ;"  and  she  would  then  laugh  herself  at  my  ban- 
terings.  The  conversations  pleased  her  ;  I  called  her  self-love 
as  much  as  possible  into  play,  interested  her  mind,  and  appealed 
to  her  good  sense.  This  plan,  perseveringly  carried  out,  at 
length  produced  a  useful  diversion  in  her  ideas.  When  her  symp- 
toms were  decidedly  ameliorated,  I  permitted  her  to  go  out  and 
visit  her  friends.  Sometimes  these  walks  were  matters  of  grief 
to  her  ;  she  looked  on  all  whom  she  met  as  lost  ;  the  luxury  ex- 
hibited in  the  public   gardens,   and  the  brilliant  toilets,  cspe- 

*  Brierre  de  Boismont,  De  la  Menstruation  considérée  dans  ses  rapports 
physiologiques  et  pathologiques,  1  vol.  8vo.  pp.  55,  100,  423,  436,  531. 
Recherches  bibliographiques  et  cliniques  sur  la  Folie  puerpérale,  précédées 
d'un  aperçu  sur  les  llapports  de  la  Menstruation  et  de  l'Aliénation  men- 
tale.    (Annal,  de  Medico-Psychol,  année  1851,  t.  iii.  p.  574.) 


TREATMENT  OF  HALLUCINATIONS.  481 

cially  excited  her  lamentations  ;  she  saw  a  modern  Babylon, 
with  all  its  iniquities.  By  degrees  her  ideas  became  more  cheer- 
ful, she  went  out  more  frequently,  and  occupied  herself  with 
worldly  affairs. 

These  results  were  not  obtained  without  many  alterations  ; 
from  being  very  lively  she  would  suddenly  become  sad,  and 
refuse  to  go  out.  Her  recovery  was  characterized  by  her  great 
desire  for  occupation  ;  she  would  work  several  hours  in  the  day; 
her  cries  became  less  frequent  ;  she  no  longer  fled  society,  and 
even  talked  much.  Desirous,  on  one  occasion,  of  profiting  by 
this  improvement,  I  invited  her  to  write  to  her  friends,  but  she 
refused,  saying  that  she  was  too  sick  at  heart.  In  the  morning, 
she  was  calm,  and  said  that  she  was  like  other  people  ;  and  she 
also  laughed  when  rallied  on  her  notion  of  being  the  beast  men- 
tioned in  the  Apocalypse. 

In  two  months  after  her  entrance  into  the  establishment,  she 
had  a  relapse  ;  she  was  continually  bursting  into  tears,  sighing, 
and  crying  out  that  the  devil  was  carrying  her  off  to  hell  be- 
cause she  had  communed  under  the  weight  of  a  mortal  sin. 
Nevertheless,  her  progress  towards  recovery  continued,  and  it 
became  highly  interesting  to  watch  this  struggle  between  reason 
and  madness,  with  every  probability  that  the  former  would  gain 
the  victory. 

I  know  not  if  I  am  in  error,  but  it  appears  to  me  that  there 
is  no  nobler  mission  than  that  of  the  physician,  who  watches  the 
reawakening  of  reason  ;  who  is  an  attentive  observer  of  those 
strange  perversions  of  natural  affection,  those  irresistibly  foolish 
ideas,  whimsical  phantoms,  and  fantastic  creations  of  the  imagi- 
nation. What  joy  will  he  not  feel  at  seeing  the  first  stone  de- 
tached from  the  pile  which  madness  has  constructed  to  conceal 
human  reason  !  In  that  struggle  where,  often  overcome,  he  still 
rises  to  the  combat,  by  turns  using  force,  skill,  persuasion,  and 
kindness,  how  great  must  be  his  satisfaction  when  he  has  suc- 
ceeded, through  patience  and  a  knowledge  of  the  human  heart, 
in  conquering  the  chimera  ! 

Madlle.  Claire  was  at  length  in  a  condition  of  mind  which 
evinced  that  the  false  idea  tottered  on  its  base.  She  smiled  when 
she  was  rallied,  and  resolved  on  going  to  church  ;  but  having 
reached  the  threshold,  she  declared  it  was  impossible  for  her  to 
cross  it  ;  she  felt  as  though  nailed  to  the  doorway  ;  no  reason- 
31 


482  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

ings  could  induce  lier  to  enter  the  building,  and  she  returned 
home.*  By  degrees  the  lady  became  calm,  worked  at  her  needle, 
and  visited  her  friends. 

In  four  months  after  her  arrival,  she  wrote  and  worked  ;  her 
countenance  had  a  natural  expression,  but  still  she  would  not 
realize  her  real  state,  wept  and  mourned  from  time  to  time,  say- 
ing that  she  never  should  be  well  ;  however,  she  could  now  con- 
trol her  will. 

In  two  months  more  she  was  so  far  convalescent  that  I 
arranged  for  her  departure,  no  doubt  existing  of  her  entire  re- 
covery. She  was  much  agitated  on  the  evening  preceding,  from 
the  dread  she  felt  of  a  relapse,  but  soon  after  she  was  seated  in 
the  carriage,  recovered  her  spirits,  and  was  very  lively. 

My  prognosis  on  the  happy  termination  of  the  alienation  of 
this  lady  was  founded  on  the  following  reasons  :  she  had  never 
betrayed  any  whimsicalities  or  strangeness  in  her  conduct  ;  never 
had  any  brain  disease,  her  periods  were  regular  ;  she  was  cor- 
rect in  judgment,  sound  in  mind,  sensible  in  discourse,  but  cold 
and  reserved  ;  she  was  well  informed,  had  read  good  books,  and 
her  reflections  were  judicious  ;  finally,  none  of  her  relatives  had 
ever  been  insane.  These  united  considerations  led  me  to  consider 
her  as  under  the  influence  of  a  critical  time  of  life  excited  by 
continence,  and  the  uterine  hemorrhage  which  she  had  expe- 
rienced. The  pathological  condition  of  the  uterus  in  reacting 
on  the  brain,  had  given  explosion  to  the  ideas  with  which  it  was 
familiar.  The  conclusion  that  we  drew  from  this  assemblage  of 
facts,  which  the  event  justified,  was,  that  after  a  sojourn  of  some 
months  in  our  establishment  the  menses  would  entirely  cease, 
and  reason  be  restored. 

I  still  followed  the  mental  condition  of  Madlle.  Claire  with 
a  lively  interest  ;  from  her  letters  I  learned  that  she  had  en- 
tered the  Church,  fulfilled  all  her  religious  duties,  and  was  quite 
well.  Still  more  recently  she  wrote  word  that  her  cure  was 
entire,  and  thanked  me  aff"ectionately  for  my  attention.  Five 
years  afterwards,  her  health  continued  excellent. 

With  this  lady,  hallucinations  formed  the  chief  characteristics 
of  the  disease;  the  false  ideas  which  accompanied  them,  were 

*  This  fact,  related  in  all  histories  of  the  possessed  and  of  sorcerers,  is 
naturally  explained  by  the  character  of  the  delirious  conception. 


TREATMENT  OF  HALLUCINATIONS.  483 

but  the  consequences.  The  physical  agents  were  but  few,  for, 
with  the  exception  of  some  baths  and  a  blister,  it  was  impossible 
to  persuade  her  to  take  any  medicaments.  Her  dry  and  nervous 
constitution  made  us  reject  bleeding.  Probably,  these  remedies 
had  some  effect;  but  we  are  firmly  convinced  that  the  moral 
treatment  which  we  perseveringly  carried  out  during  several 
months  contributed  mainly  to  the  re-establishment  of  her  reason. 

We  have  selected  this  case  from  many  others,  because  we 
cannot  in  a  history  of  hallucinations  accumulate  facts  as  we 
might  in  a  special  pamphlet,  and  this  one  appears  sufficient  to 
make  our  method  apparent. 

An  unexpected  event,  or  a  sudden  comparison  of  what  is, 
with  what  is  believed  to  be,  suffices,  under  some  circumstances, 
to  cause  the  cessation  of  hallucinations. 

The  prefect  of  the  empire,  whose  case  we  have  given  in  de- 
tail, exclaimed,  on  seeing  the  Cossacks  in  the  Jardin  des  Plantes: 
"Enough,  I  am  cured!"  Another  patient  of  Esquirol  awaited 
the  speedy  advent  of  the  Messiah.  After  a  long  conversation 
with  that  physician,  she  gave  a  written  agreement  that  she 
would  acknowledge  herself  to  be  mad,  if  the  Messiah  did  not 
come  on  the  25th  of  March.  On  the  day  appointed,  the  Mes- 
siah did  not  appear;  the  patient  yielded  with  a  good  grace, 
resumed  her  former  habits,  and,  in  a  very  short  time,  her 
reason  was  restored. 

Case  CLX.  A  lady,  having  become  melancholy  after  giving 
birth  to  a  child,  struggled  long  between  reason  and  insanity, 
and,  finally,  concluded  that  she  had  committed  a  capital  crime, 
which  infamy  had  caused  the  death  of  her  husband,  whose 
spirit  haunted  her.  Every  evening  she  would  sit  at  the  window 
and  gaze  at  a  white  post,  which  appeared  to  her  as  the  ghost  of 
her  husband.  Several  weeks  having  passed  in  this  manner, 
without  any  amelioration,  her  husband  resolved  on  seeing  her, 
for,  although  he  was  told  that  sequestration  was  an  essential 
means  towards  recovery,  he  conjectured,  with  much  reason,  that 
the  best  method  of  proving  his  existence,  was  to  appear  before 
her. 

It  was  in  vain  for  the  physicians  to  object  that  his  wife 
would  look  upon  him  as  a  ghost;  his  importunity  was  irresist- 
ible. The  results  of  the  visit,  as  communicated  by  the  husband, 
were  wonderful.     "So  soon,"  said  he,  "  as  I  entered  the  dining- 


484  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

room,  where  my  wife  usually  set,  she  ran  to  a  corner,  liid  lier 
face  in  her  handkerchief,  and  then  turned  towards  me,  appear- 
ing for  a  moment  pleased  to  see  that  I  was  living;  but  presently, 
in  great  terror,  cried  out  that  I  was  dead,  and  had  come  to  haunt 
her.  This  was  exactly  what  the  doctors  had  predicted,  and,  for 
some  minutes,  I  thought  all  was  lost. 

"  Finding  that  persuasion  and  reasoning  only  served  to  irri- 
tate and  confirm  her  in  her  belief,  I  abandoned  this  means,  and 
endeavored  to  attract  her  attention  on  other  subjects.  It  was 
some  time  since  she  had  seen  either  myself  or  the  children  ;  I 
drew  her  arm  within  mine,  took  her  into  the  garden,  and  began 
to  tell  her  all  that  had  happened  to  myself  as  well  as  to  them, 
since  her  departure.  These  details  soon  arrested  her  attention, 
and  she  began  to  be  interested  ;  I  entered  into  the  most  minute 
and  circumstantial  particulars  of  our  nursery,  the  house,  and  of 
her  friends.  I  felt  that  I  was  gaining  ground,  and  when  I 
thought  that  her  attention  was  quite  gained,  I  hazarded  the 
question,  in  a  jesting  manner,  if  I  was  not  very  communicative 
for  a  ghost.  She  commenced  laughing.  I  immediately  quitted 
the  subject,  and  again  talked  of  her  children  and  friends.  The 
plan  succeeded  beyond  my  expectations  ;  I  passed  the  evening 
with  her,  and  left  her  perfectly  tranquil." 

This  happy  result  was  entirely  successful,  and  although  general 
objections  may  be  raised  against  the  attempt,  it  is  impossible 
not  to  recognize  that  it  does  sometimes  succeed.* 

Leuret's  method  should  naturally  find  its  place  here  ;  although 
we  have  pointed  out  its  principal  features,  we  think  that  an 
example  from  his  work  is  indispensable,  in  order  to  make  it  well 
understood. 

Case  CLXI.  A.,  forty-two  years  of  age,  a  carpenter,  un- 
married, entered  Bicetre  on  the  18th  of  June,  1839. 

Of  a  nervous  sanguine  temperament,  A.  made  much  use  of 
alcoholic  drinks  ;  he  said  that  his  father,  likewise,  drank  much, 
which,  on  several  occasions,  caused  a  derangement  of  intellect. 
A.,  being  of  an  active  and  impatient  disposition,  was  easily  put 
out  of  temper.  When  working  at  his  trade  with  his  companions, 
he  could  not  endure  the  slightest  jesting.     However,  he  had 

*  ConoUy,  op.  cit.  p.  402.  We  know  of  a  similar  case  that  occurred  in 
Esquirol's  establishment,  and  the  account  of  which  we  received  from  an 
eye-witness. 


TREATMENT  OF  HALLUCINATIONS.  485 

never  evinced  any  symptoms  of  insanity,  until,  fifteen  days  prior 
to  his  admission  into  Bicetre,  liis  sleep  began  to  be  disturbed. 
It  was  then  that  he  experienced  hallucinations.  He  believed 
himself  to  be  pursued  by  spies  ;  the  voices  which  he  heard 
called  him  spy.  At  the  same  time,  he  took  it  into  his  head  that 
the  master  carpenter  had  spoken  of  buying  for  him  a  wine  store, 
which  was  alongside  the  yard  in  which  he  worked. 

He  betrayed  no  agitation  on  his  entrance  into  the  asylum, 
but  related  that  for  a  month  past  he  had  been  subjected  to  many 
torments  and  persecutions.  Three  persons  especially  persevered 
in  annoying  him,  the  wine  merchant  amongst  the  number,  who 
treated  him  as  a  spy  and  a  thief.  A  violent  dispute  arose  on 
the  subject,  and  the  patient  demanded  500  francs  damages. 
He  also  spoke  of  the  proprietor,  who  had  made  him  many  pro- 
mises. This  man,  he  said,  liked  him  much,  and  his  wife  gave 
him  a  thousand  encouragements  every  hour  in  the  day.  A. 
often  heard  the  voices  of  his  enemies  speaking  to  him  ;  more- 
over, he  imagined  himself  very  rich,  and  that  he  had  command 
of  everything  of  the  most  beautiful  kind. 

The  treatment  administered  to  him  for  some  time  consisted  in 
cupping  on  the  nape  of  the  neck,  baths  with  affusion,  foot-baths, 
and  lemonade.  He  was  afterwards  required  to  work,  but  he 
obstinately  refused. 

On  several  douches  being  administered,  he  promised  to  go  to 
work,  but  the  promise  was  almost  immediately  forgotten.  Indeed, 
he  tired  out  the  patience  of  M.  Ferrus.  He  slept  nearly  the 
whole  of  the  day,  either  in  the  yard,  or  by  the  side  of  his  bed, 
continuing  very  calm,  and  never  speaking  of  his  insanity. 

On  the  12th  September,  Leuret,  who  had  undertaken  him, 
inquired  if  he  was  willing  to  work  ;  he  refused,  alleging  bodily 
weakness  as  an  excuse,  and  saying  that,  after  all,  he  could  not 
be  detained  long  at  Bicetre  ;  that  he  would  soon  be  released, 
and  would  work  at  his  trade  as  soon  as  he  was  restored  to  liberty. 
He  complained,  besides,  that  he  was  subjected  to  the  tricks  of  a 
number  of  persons  who  gave  him  no  peace  night  or  day,  and 
entirely  prevented  his  having  an  instant  of  rest. 

A.  was  immediately  taken  to  the  bath  and  placed  under 
the  douche  ;  when  Leuret  questioned  him  on  all  that  had  occur- 
red since  his  entrance  into  Bicetre. 

"For  six  months  I  have  studied  things  here  of  which  I  was 


486  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

ignorant  ;  I  have  learned  all  these  things  by  looking  at  the  stars; 
for  instance,  I  have  acquired  some  knowledge  of  anatomy." 

"  What  is  anatomy  ?" 

"Anatomy  is  the  different  things  that  appear  in  the  clouds; 
animals  and  people.  I  have  seen  different  persons  in  the  sun  ; 
and  have  learned  that  the  sun  gives  me  light.  There  is  a  person 
in  the  moon  whom  I  do  not  know." 

"  Did  you  know  that  person  on  earth  ?" 

"  No,  M.  Leuret  ;  for  six  months  I  have  worked  for  the 
castle,  on  the  security  of  the  king,  and  have  not  drawn  a  cent. 
I  looked  at  the  sun  whilst  I  worked,  and  when  my  eyes  pained 
me,  I  stopped,  and  then  looked  again." 

"  You  think  you  have  enemies  ;  who  are  they  ?" 

"  Yes,  I  have  enemies  here  ;  first  the  parlor  waiter.  There 
are  others  whom  I  hear,  but  do  not  see  ;  they  are  under  the 
head  of  my  bed  ;  if  you  will  let  me  search  in  the  body  of  the 
building,  I  shall  soon  find  them.  The  vaults  are  under  the  head 
of  my  bed,  and  there  are  my  men,  who  will  carry  my  orders  to 
Paris.  I  have,  besides,  many  other  enemies.  At  night  I  hear 
women  beneath  me.     They  tell  me  everything." 

"  What  do  they  tell  you  ?" 

"  They  tell  me  I  am  a  great  idler.  They  talk  to  me  inces- 
santly when  I  am  in  bed,  when  I  am  resting,  when  I  am  in  the 
court  ;  they  talk  to  me  everywhere,  and  always  to  annoy  and 
insult  me." 

"  How  is  it  that  you  do  not  now  hear  women's  voices  ?" 

"  Probably  because  there  are  many  persons  about." 

"But,  by  your  bedside  ;  how  is  it  that  your  neighbors  do  not 
hear  these  same  voices  ?" 

"  Because  the  conversations  are  carried  on  in  a  low  tone, 
and  often  only  by  signs." 

Having  listened  very  calmly  to  this  narration,  Leuret  spoke 
to  A.  as  follows  : — 

"Now,  A.,  I  Avill  tell  you  what  I  think  of  all  you  have  been 
saying  :  there  is  not  one  word  of  truth  in  it;  all  that  you  have 
said  is  nonsense,  and  you  are  in  Bicetre  because  you  are  mad." 

A.  replied:  "M.  Leuret,  I  do  not  think  I  am  mad  ;  I  cannot 
help  seeing  the  persons  who  are  under  my  bed  and  in  the  vaults, 
since  they  are  there.     Y'ou  say  that  all  I  have  said  is  nonsense; 


TREATMENT  OF  HALLUCINATIONS.  487 

it  may  be  so  ;  but  I  know  what  I  have  seen  and  heard.  After 
what  you  say,  then,  there  is  no  hope  of  my  leaving  this  place?" 

"You  shall  leave  it,  but  upon  one  condition  ;  listen  attentively 
to  what  I  am  about  to  say.  You  will  only  leave  it  when  you 
are  no  longer  mad,  and  I  will  tell  you  what  you  must  do  to 
be  so  no  longer.  You  must  look  neither  at  the  sun  nor  at  the 
stars;  you  must  not  believe  that  there  are  vaults  under  your 
bed,  because  it  is  not  so  ;  neither  do  you  hear  voices,  nor  are 
any  persons  there.  Moreover,  you  must  never  refuse  to  work, 
whatever  you  are  ordered  to  do.  If  you  wish  me  to  be  pleased 
with  you,  you  must  obey,  because  I  only  ask  what  is  reasonable. 
Will  you  promise  neither  to  think  nor  speak  any  more  of  these 
follies?" 

"If  you  wish  me  to  speak  of  them  no  more,  because  you  say 
they  are  follies,  I  will  not." 

"Will  you  promise  me  not  to  think  of  them?" 

The  patient  hesitated  considerably,  but  the  point  being  per- 
sisted on,  he  replied  : — 

"No  sir,  I  will  not  think  any  more  of  them." 

"  Will  you  promise  me  to  work  every  day  when  you  are 
ordered  ?" 

"  I  have  a  trade;  I  want  to  go  out  to  work  at  it." 

"I  have  told  you  on  what  conditions  you  can  go  and  work  at 
your  trade.     Now,  I  ask  you  if  you  agree  to  work?" 

The  patient  was  obstinate. 

"As  you  have  often  broken  your  word  on  this  point,  and  your 
promises  are  not  to  be  relied  on,  you  shall  receive  the  douche, 
and  it  will  be  continued  every  day,  until  you  come,  of  your  own 
accord,  to  ask  for  work;  and  until  you  own,  also,  of  your  own 
accord,  that  all  the  things  you  have  said  are  nonsense." 

The  douche  was  administered,  and  was  so  painful  that  he  soon 
gave  in. 

"You  wish  me  to  go  and  work;  I  will  go.  You  desire  me  to 
think  no  more  of  what  I  have  said,  because  they  are  fancies  ;  I 
agree.  If  any  one  talks  to  me  about  it,  I  shall  say  it  is  not 
true,  that  I  only  had  fancies  in  my  head." 

"Will  you  go  and  work  to-day?" — "If  I  am  forced  to  it,  I 
must." 

"Will  you  go  willingly?" — "I  will  go,  if  I  am  forced." 

"  Y"ou  should  say,  that  you  understand  it  is  to  your  interest 


488  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

to  go  and  work.  "Will  you  go  willingly,  yes  or  no  ?"  The  patient 
hesitated,  and  the  douche  was  again  given,  when  he  quickly 
said,  "Yes,  sir,  all  that  I  said  to  you  was  nonsense;  I  will  go  to 
work." 

"You  have  been  mad?" — "No,  I  have  not  been  mad." — 
"You  have  not  been  mad?" — "I  think  not,  at  least." — "The 
tZoMc/ic  again!" — "Have  you  been  mad?" — "It  is  then  being 
mad  to  have  fancies,  to  see,  and  to  hear?" — "Yes." — "Well, 
then,  sir,  I  have  been  mad.  There  were  neither  women,  nor 
men,  nor  companions,  but  it  was  all  madness." 

"  When  you  think  you  hear  something  of  that  kind,  what 
will  you  say?" — "I  shall  say  it  is  nonsense,  and  not  dwell  on 
it." 

"I  expect  that  to-morrow  you  come  and  thank  me  for  having 
rid  you  of  your  foolish  ideas." — "I  promise  that  I  will  work, 
and  thank  you  for  having  rid  me  of  my  ideas." 

On  the  evening  of  the  same  day  the  douche  was  administered 
to  him  by  M.  Auband,  for  having  forgotten  to  go  to  work  during 
the  day 

September  13.  This  morning  A.  came  towards  Leuret,  as 
soon  as  he  appeared  in  the  courtyard,  and  thanked  him  for 
having  rid  him  of  his  fancies  ;  he  was  waiting  the  hour  to  go  to 
work.  Since  yesterday  he  had  neither  seen  nor  heard  anything; 
they  were,  he  said,  illusions  ;  he  was  now  convinced  of  it. 

September  14.     The  same  protestations  as  yesterda}^ 

A.  neither  saw  nor  heard  anything,  and  spoke  jestingly  of  his 
past  fancies.  Leuret  tried  to  entrap  him,  but  A.  skilfully 
avoided  it,  always  asserting  that  his  ideas  were  nonsensical. 
....  For  several  days  Leuret  renewed  his  attempts,  but  unsuc- 
cessfully. 

September  25.  There  can  be  no  doubt  of  the  radical  cure  of 
A.  This  man,  prior  to  the  latter  treatment,  was  thin  and  me- 
lancholy ;  he  had  now  recovered  his  corpulence,  at  the  same  time 
with  his  cheerfulness.  He  slept  quietly,  and  was  good-humored 
to  everybody.  lie  tliouglit  he  had  seen;  he  thought  he  had  heard, 
were  all  the  expressions  he  made  use  of  in  replying  to  questions 
on  the  different  nature  of  his  hallucinations.  He  asked  for  his 
dismissal,  which  was  granted  to  him  on  the  3d  of  October, 
twenty  days  after  the  long  conversation  of  the  12th  of  Sep- 
tember. 


TREATMENT  OF  HALLUCINATIONS.  489 

*'The  cure  of  A.,"  says  Leuret,  "was  owing,  doubtless,  in 
the  first  place,  to  the  douche  ;  and,  secondly,  to  the  care  which 
I  took,  whilst  he  was  in  the  bath,  to  speak  on  all  the  subjects 
connected  with  his  insanity,  and  to  make  him  give  me  rational 
replies.  ...  I  was  not  contented  so  long  as  there  was,  or  ap- 
peared to  be  a  mental  reservation  in  his  words.  If  I  had  been 
contented  with  A.'s  reply,  I  should  have  been  at  a  disadvantage, 
and,  probably,  not  have  succeeded.  I  was  not  over  delicate 
towards  his  self-love;  I  obliged  him  to  utter  the  word  '  mad,'  in 
order,  if  possible,  to  make  the  idea  of  madness  and  of  his  ma- 
lady inseparable,  by  the  use  of  a  repulsive  epithet. 

"The  bath  treatment  once  over,  I  wished  him  to  work,  in 
order  that  he  might  give  me  proof  of  acting  like  a  rational  man. 

"I  often  spread  traps  for  the  insane,  who,  after  the  douche, 
appear  rational.  I  return  to  them,  pretending  to  be  sorry  for 
the  remarks  I  made,  and  the  distress  I  caused  them,  and,  if 
they  are  caught,  I  show  them  wherein  they  were  deceived,  in 
order  to  put  them  constantly  on  their  guard.  As  in  this  kind 
of  strife,  my  object  was  not  to  punish,  but  to  cure,  of  course, 
I  was  careful  to  proportion  the  stratagems  I  employed  to  the 
degree  of  intellect  of  the  patients  whom  I  addressed."* 

This  very  interesting  case,  the  chief  points  of  which  we  have 
extracted,  appears  a  powerful  argument  in  favor  of  the  opinion 
we  have  elsewhere  pronounced  on  the  difficulty  of  applying  the 
treatment  of  Leuret,  in  all  cases,  to  patients  in  private  asylums. 
Whatever  talent  the  physician  may  possess  who  puts  this  system 
into  execution,  we  repeat  to  him  that  men  of  education,  accus- 
tomed to  compare,  to  reflect,  and  to  will,  will  not  so  readily 
yield  up  their  ideas,  and  that  dreadful  scenes^might  ensue  on 
telling  them  they  were  mad,  especially  in  obliging  them  to 
acknowledge  it.  That  the  hallucinated  subject  reasons  falsely, 
on  one  or  two  points  is  incontestable,  but  on  the  rest  his  judg- 
ment is  sound  ;  would  not  this  disposition  of  mind  of  which  he 
is  conscious  contribute  to  strengthen  his  false  sensations?  The 
world  is  full  of  men  of  imperfect  judgment.  Let  them  listen  to 
the  most  eloquent,  persuasive,  and  logical  orator,  but  who 
offends  their  prejudices,  and  not  one  of  their  convictions  will  be 

*  Leuret,  Du  Traitement  moral  de  la  Folie,  p.  186.  Hallucinés,  Traite- 
ment des  Hallucinations,  1  vol.  8yo.  Paris,  18i'J. 


490  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

changed.  Who,  then,  can  be  persuaded  in  life  ?  The  infinitely 
small  number  of  those  who  are  gifted  with  a  cool  judgment,  and 
lively  and  impressible  natures;  the  immense  majority  obey  only 
their  passions,  great  or  trivial.  Is  it  likely  we  can  do  that  for 
madmen  which  we  cannot  accomplish  for  rational  men  ?  It  is 
certainly  necessary  to  distinguish  the  errors  resulting  from  dis- 
ease from  those  consequent  on  education,  and  Leuret  was  right 
in  saying  that  they  could  never  prevent  a  few  from  believing  in 
the  immediate  coming  of  the  Messiah,  nor  cure  certain  of  the 
populace  of  their  faith  in  sorcery;  but  have  not  the  errors  which 
this  physician  attributes  to  the  disease  their  source  in  education? 
How  can  they  be  conquered  by  an  open  attack  ?  The  victory 
may  be  easy  in  a  hospital  ;  we  think  it  much  more  rare  in  pri- 
vate asylums,  particularly  when  attempted  on  firm  or  proud 
characters.  All  have  not  been  cured  who  have  undergone  this 
treatment.  Three  years  ago  we  were  consulted  by  a  priest, 
who  had  a  mania  that  he  was  a  bishop.  Under  the  douche,  he 
appeared  to  recognize  his  error,  and  quitted  Bicetre.  These 
were  his  words  :  '•'  I  acknowledged  myself  wrong  because  there 
was  no  other  means  of  escaping  the  punishment,  and  because 
all  my  assertions  would  have  been  useless  in  a  place  where  the 
doctor  is  all-powerful  ;  but  in  receiving  it,  I  was  not  the  less  per- 
suaded that  all  I  said  was  true."  His  expressions  were  unjust 
and  exaggerated,  but  the  fact  of  dissimulation  existed  neverthe- 
less. In  our  own  practice,  when  recourse  had  been  had  to  dis- 
simulation, the  patients  have  said,  when  out  of  our  hearing: 
"  We  yield  because  we  are  powerless  against  force,  but  we  are 
not  the  less  certain  of  the  reality  of  our  ideas." 

Pariset,  in  ai»  address  to  the  Académie  de  Médecine,  has 
made  other  objections  to  this  method.  "What  can  severity  do," 
he  inquires,  "for  the  hallucinated  ?  on  those  who  are  disturbed 
with  strange  sounds,  voices,  words,  phrases,  or  discourses  ?  . 
To  wring  from  these  unfortunates,  through  suffering,  an  avowal 
that  they  do  not  hear  what  they  do  hear,  is  to  make  them  utter 
a  falsehood,  and  that  falsehood,  by  degrading  them  in  their  own 
eyes,  fills  them  with  hatred  and  disdain  towards  their  physician; 
and  as  they  are  not  insane  from  their  hallucinations,  but  from 
the  false  ideas  attached  to  them,  to  attack  these  ideas  in  order 
to  destroy  them,  to  combat  them  by  arguments  and  violence  in 
order  to  bring  the  patient  back  to  the  single  sentiment  of  his 


TREATMENT  OF  HALLUCINATIONS.  491 

internal  impressions,  is  most  frequently  but  to  imbitter  bis  life 
with  fresh  torments."* 

These  objections  do  not  influence  Leuret,  "who,  after  refuting 
them,  adds:  "If  the  recollection  of  the  service  you  have  ren- 
dered the  afflicted  person  does  not  dispel  his  resentment,  be  it 
so  ;  let  him  hate  you,  so  long  as  he  is  cured. "f 

We  will  make  but  one  observation,  which  is,  that  it  is  not 
always  without  bad  results  that  the  insane  person  is  made  to  ac- 
knowledge his  error. 

Case  CLXII.  A  man  named  Vincent  believed  himself  to  be 
so  tall  that  it  was  impossible  for  him  to  pass  through  the  door 
of  his  room.  His  physician  ordered  that  he  should  be  taken 
through  by  force.  The  order  was  executed,  but  the  consequences 
were  fatal  ;  for,  in  passing  through,  Vincent  cried  out  that 
they  were  crushing  him,  and  breaking  his  bones,  and  the  impres- 
sion was  so  terrible  that  he  died  in  a  few  days,  reproaching  his 
keepers  for  being  his  murderers.  J 

Science  has  now  admitted  the  conclusion  that  hallucinations 
may  be  successfully  treated.  In  this  point  we  agree  with 
Leuret,  but  we  differ  as  to  the  mode  of  execution.  Whilst  he 
insists  on  his  mode  of  treatment  for  the  generality  of  cases, 
which  he  calls  moral  revulsion  {revulsion  tnorale),  we  only  think 
it  applicable  to  a  certain  number  of  cases,  determined  by  the 
social  condition  of  the  patients,  their  character,  and  the  quality 
of  their  delirium.  Far  from  reducing  the  treatment  of  halluci- 
nations to  moral  means  only,  we  think  it  necessary  sometimes 
to  have  recourse  to  physical  agents,  sometimes  to  moral  influ- 
ence, and  sometimes  to  a  union  of  the  two  methods.  By  means 
of  this  mixed  treatment,  in  connection  with  the  etiology  and 
symptomatology  of  hallucinations,  numerous  and  durable  success 
will  be  obtained,  which,  without  presenting  the  brilliant  cures 
referable  to  the  method  of  Leuret,  will,  amongst  practitioners, 
ofier  the  immense  advantage  of  not  encountering  those  nume- 

*  Bulletin  de  l'Académie  Royale  de  Médecine,  Paris,  1839,  t.  iv.  p,  83. 
Report  of  M.  Pariset  on  the  Memoir  of  Dr.  Blanche,  entitled  :  "  Du  danger 
des  rigueurs  corporelles  dans  le  traitement  de  la  Folie,  Paris,  1839." — See,  in 
the  biographical  notice  which  we  have  devoted  to  M.  Leuret,  Annal.  Med. 
Psych.,  t.  iii.  pp.  512  and  520,  1851,  our  appreciation  of  his  method. 

t  Leuret,  op.  cit.  p.  207. 

X  Marcus  Donatus,  Hist.  Med.  Yar.  lib.  ii.  cap.  i. 


492  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

reus  asperities  -with  whicli  our  poor  humanity  is  beset.  As  to 
the  choice  of  moral  agencies,  the  physician  must  be  guided  by 
the  individuality,  the  particular  disease,  and  certain  indications, 
■which,  notwithstanding  they  have  been  ridiculed  under  the  name 
of  medical  tact,  are,  nevertheless,  often  the  luminous  beacons 
which  guide  us  in  difficult  cases. 

Contradiction  and  firmness  are  certainly  useful,  but  we  are 
better  satisfied  not  to  attack  hallucinations  openly,  but  to  take 
them  by  stratagem,  and  fight  them  after  the  manner  of  the  Par- 
thians.  Hallucinated  monomaniacs  differ  from  other  men  only 
by  holding  some  peculiar  notions  ;  in  other  respects  they  are 
similar.  Mild  methods,  by  which  so  many  enterprises  are  con- 
ducted, are  equally  applicable  to  them  ;  therefore,  we  do  not 
hesitate  to  give  to  these  the  preference  in  most  cases. 

During  our  study  of  hallucinations,  we  have  established  seve- 
ral positions.  It  is  evident  that  the  therapeutic  just  mentioned 
is  only  useful  in  some  instances  ;  that  in  others  it  cannot  be  em- 
ployed ;  that  in  short,  various  cases  present  various  symptoms  ; 
it  is  by  the  examination  of  these  divers  circumstances  that  we 
will  close  our  chapter  on  treatment. 

Halluciiiations  compatible  with  reason  may  be  habitually 
manifested  without  any  derangement  of  the  intellect  ;  in  such 
cases,  therapeutic  agents  would  be  useless  ;  but  there  are  other 
cases  in  which  these  phenomena  are  distressing,  and  disturb  all 
peace  and  tranquillity  ;  then  physical  remedies  may  speedily 
promote  a  cure.  An  individual  hears  incessantly  the  voice  of  a 
woman  ;  although  placing  no  faith  on  the  error  of  the  senses,  he 
seeks  medical  relief.  In  consequence  of  some  symptoms,  M. 
Bottex  applies  leeches  behind  the  ears,  mustard  to  the  calves  of 
the  legs,  mustard  foot-baths  every  night,  the  use  of  new  milk 
and  orgeat  syrup,  with  two  of  Anderson's  pills  for  several  days. 
To  these  remedies  manual  labor  is  added,  and  in  the  course  of 
one  month  the  patient  is  entirely  cured.  It  w^as  by  bleeding 
that  we  cured  Madame of  her  visions. 

In  hallucinations  of  this  nature,  the  cause  must  be  carefully 
sought  out.  Thus,  the  treatment  would  vary  according  to  whe- 
ther they  resulted  from  an  afflux  of  the  blood,  or  an  accumula- 
tion of  bile  in  the  stomach.  The  same  would  be  the  case  if  they 
were  caused  by  a  powerful  concentration  of  thought,  or  by  the 


TREATMENT  OF  HALLUCINATIONS.  493 

•weakness  of  convalescence.  Hallucinations  created  by  dark- 
ness, terror,  and  imprisonment,  cease  with  the  exciting  causes. 

The  treatment  required  in  simple  hallucinations,  and  in  those 
■which  are  complicated  with  insanity  being  the  express  objects  of 
this  book,  we  will  observe  that,  when  mental  alienation  prepon- 
derates, against  that  must  therapeutic  means  be  employed.  It 
is  only  when  the  hallucination  forms  the  striking  characteristic 
of  monomania,  that  it  may  be  successfully  treated.  In  mania 
and  dementia,  hallucinations  only  require  physical  treatment 
when  the  physical  health  of  the  patient  is  deranged.  Some- 
times, however,  mania  is  increased  by  hallucinations  or  illusions. 
In  this  event,  it  should  be  discovered  if  light  or  noise  does  not 
induce  them.  Should  this  be  the  case,  the  patient  should  be 
placed  in  the  dark,  and  care  taken  that  no  noise  should  be 
around  him.  Anodynes  are  clearly  indicated.  Under  other  cir- 
cumstances, the  patient  must,  on  the  contrary,  be  placed  in  the 
light.  Bleeding  may  be  found  necessary,  and  relief  will  be  the 
result. 

Delirium  tremens  is  often  accompanied  by  hallucinations,  fre- 
quently of  a  very  importunate  character  ;  solitude,  baths,  and 
opium,  remedies  employed  against  mental  diseases,  equally 
triumph  over  hallucinations.  This  kind  of  delirium  offers  a  prac- 
tical fact,  which  should  be  generally  known,  namely,  that  cer- 
tain individuals  accustomed  to  the  use  of  fermented  liquor  can- 
not be  deprived  of  it  suddenly  without  distressing  symptoms  ; 
they  should  be  allowed  a  moderate  quantity  of  wine  or  brandy. 

Drunkenness  may  occasion  very  strange  hallucinations  ;  they 
are  commonly  dispelled  when  the  effects  caused  by  fermented 
liquors  cease  ;  if  they  persist,  bleeding,  a  purgative,  an  emetic, 
or  an  opiate,  will  usually  free  the  individual  from  their  presence. 

Hallucinations  caused  by  nat^cotic  substances,  require,  under 
most  circumstances,  therapeutic  means.  The  treatment  is  evi- 
dent when  they  have  been  occasioned  by  datura  or  belladonna, 
etc.  The  medicaments  used  are  those  which  belong  to  cases 
of  poisoning  by  those  substances.  When  hallucinations  are 
caused  by  the  use  of  haschisch  or  opium,  nature  must  be  left  to 
herself  ;  the  symptoms  will  cease  in  a  few  hours.  If  the  eifects 
of  the  opium  be  too  much  prolonged,  appropriate  antidotes  must 
be  applied. 

Nervous  diseases,  such  as  catalepsy,  epilepsy,  hysteria,  hypo- 


494  ON  HALLUCINATIOXS. 

cliondria,  and  rage,  which  are  more  or  less  accompanied  bj  hal- 
lucinations, do  not  point  out  any  especial  indications  against 
this  symptom,  unless  it  prevails  over  all  the  rest.  When  it  oc- 
curs in  epilepsy,  the  results  may  be  very  serious,  and  the  great- 
est attention  is  required  on  the  part  of  the  medical  attendant. 
Moral  treatment  is  chiefly  applicable  to  hypochondria  ;  but  if 
the  patient  be  a  man  of  education,  enlightened,  irritable,  and 
wilful,  the  method  of  Leuret  may  have  unhappy  drawbacks. 

When  hallucinations  which  have  arisen  in  nightmare  continue 
on  waking,  or  when  they  are  nightly  reproduced,  it  is  necessary 
to  have  recourse  to  medical  advice.  Every  organ  should  be  ex- 
amined with  the  greatest  attention,  for  it  not  unfrequently  hap- 
pens in  this  case  that  they  are  connected  with  a  derangement 
of  the  digestive  organs.  At  other  times,  a  moral  emotion,  or  a 
painful  impression  will  cause  them.  Schenkius  speaks  of  a  man, 
on  whom  every  night  a  woman  flung  herself,  and  who  was  so 
terrified  that  he  was  like  a  madman.  Two  or  three  conversa- 
tions with  his  physician  effected  his  cure.  In  another  case,  men- 
tioned by  the  same  physician,  it  was  necessary  to  resort  to 
medicaments. 

Hallucinations  may  be  exhibited  in  dreams,  and  precede  the 
appearance  of  insanity;  they  have  then  a  distressing  character, 
which  fact,  combined  with  a  knowledge  of  the  temperament  of 
the  person,  his  antecedents,  and  any  bodily  disorders  may  point 
out  the  path  to  be  pursued.  A  judicious  employment  of  medical 
means  may  perhaps  succeed  in  checking  the  development  of 
insanity.  When  hallucinations  disturb  the  rest  of  the  insane, 
they  require,  in  most  cases,  the  employment  of  remedies. 
Bleeding,  purging,  and  a  bath  are  sometimes  suflicient  to  insure 
relief. 

Ecstasy  frequently  attaches  itself  to  a  morbid  nervous  over- 
excitability,  which  can  only  be  calmed  by  therapeutic  agents. 
According  to  the  cases,  physical  or  moral  means  should  be 
adopted.  In  the  Swedish  epidemic,  of  which  Dr.  Souden  re- 
cently gave  a  description,  the  diminution,  and,  probably,  the 
cessation  of  the  malady  was,  in  a  great  measure,  owing  to  the 
non-accomplishment  of  the  promises  made  by  the  hallucinated 
ecstatics.  Let  us  add,  however,  that,  in  this  moral  epidemic, 
medicine  was  frequently  useful. 

The  treatment  of  hallucinations  which  are  consequent  on 


\ 


TREATMENT  OF  HALLUCINATIONS.  495 

acute  deUriujn,  and  in  those  maladies  which  do  not  belong  to 
the  diiferent  categories  which  we  have  enumerated,  constitute 
nothing  special;  it  is  almost  always  such  as  is  proper  to  each 
of  these  affections.  The  false  sensations  created  by  fever, 
disappear  with  it.  We  recollect  the  case  of  a  young  man,  of 
sanguine  temperament,  who,  being  suddenly  attacked  with  a 
violent  cephalalgia,  with  fever,  saw  shadows  flying  before  him, 
amongst  which  he  chiefly  distinguished  that  of  a  female  in 
white.  At  times  he  recognized  the  falseness  of  these  sensations, 
whilst  at  others  he  would  address  these  fantastic  personages, 
and  express  his  surprise  at  their  appearance. 

On  the  following  day,  these  illusions  had  entirely  passed 
away.  Sometimes,  however,  hallucinations  persist  after  the 
fever  has  ceased.  In  such  a  case  bleeding  is  necessary,  either 
by  leeches  or  cupping,  with  purgatives,  and  baths  with  cold 
afl"usions  ;  and,  in  cases  where  they  do  not  yield  to  these  vari- 
ous means,  a  blister  might  be  successfully  applied. 

Intermittent  fevers  sometimes  become  complicated  with  hallu- 
cinations. Should  this  symptom  be  prolonged  in  convalescence, 
sulphate  of  quinia  should  be  resorted  to. 

Hallucinations  are  frequently  observed  in  typlms,  and  we  have 
remarked  them  also  in  some  cases  of  typhoid  fever.*  They,  in 
general,  disappear  in  proportion .  as  strength  returns.  It  may, 
however,  happen  that  the  overthrow,  which  the  nervous  systefai 
has  received,  prolongs  them  much  beyond  the  ordinary  time. 
Tonics  and  a  good  hygienic  regimen  are  extremely  essential 
under  such  circumstances.  With  the  re-establishment  of  health, 
the  errors  of  the  senses  cease. 

A  morbid  condition  of  the  digestive  organs  is  sometimes  an 
occasion  of  hallucinations.  The  organs  must  then  be  examined, 
which,  in  fact,  should  always  be  done  when  any  derangement  is 
manifested  in  the  economy  ;  cooling  and  refreshing  drinks,  and 
a  dietetic  regimen,  are  the  only  means  required.  Hallucination 
may  arise  from  the  presence  of  some  substance  ofl'ensive  to  the 
stomach.  One  of  our  brethren  reported  the  case  of  a  lady  who 
saw  visions  whenever  she  partook  of  cofl'ee;  here  may  be  re- 
peated the  aphorism  :  Suhlatâ  causa,  tollitur  effectus. 

"  See  the  work  of  M.  Gaultier  de  Claubry,  in  which  the  identity  of 
typhus  and  typhoid  fevers  is  powerfully  sustained. 


496  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

Hallucinations  have  been  manifested  in  the  most  diverse  affec- 
tions. The  Edinhurcjh  Journal  relates  the  case  of  a  lady  who, 
after  an  attack  of  gout,  was  assailed  bj  phantoms.  She  was 
cured  of  this  disturbance  of  the  senses  by  cataplasms  on  the 
feet,  gentle  medicine,  and  above  all,  by  a  slight  attack  of  her 
disease.  Sometimes  hallucinations  appear  in  the  last  stage  of 
chronic  diseases  ;  an  agreeable  surprise,  in  this  case,  has  caused 
their  instantaneous  cessation.  When  they  occur  in  the  weakness 
of  convalescence,  good  nourishment,  pure  air,  and  tonics  are 
the  most  suitable  remedies. 

It  would  be  easy,  on  examining  the  many  works  on  pathology, 
to  increase  the  number  of  diseases  which  are  complicated  with 
hallucinations.  We  have  limited  ourselves  to  those  which  most 
frequently  offer  that  symptom.  The  cases  which  we  have  indi- 
cated, and  their  analogy,  will  point  out  the  rule  of  conduct  to 
be  followed  in  similar  circumstances. 

M.  Michéa  recommends  in  many  cases  society,  a  light  cheerful 
situation,  the  avoidance  of  any  object  connected  with  the  nature 
of  the  hallucination,  and  the  awakening  of  attention.* 

Recapitulation. — The  treatment  of  hallucinations  has  long 
been  completely  unnoticed  in  France.  The  examination,  how- 
ever, of  their  causes,  symptoms,  and  particularly  of  clinical 
facts,  proves  the  possibility  and  certainty  of  their  cure. 

'  Leuret  was  the  first  to  reduce  to  a  system  the  treatment  of 
hallucinations.  The  only  objection  that  can  be  made  to  his 
method  is,  that  it  is  too  general  and  too  exclusive. 

Etiology,  symptomatology,  and  clinical  facts  prove  that  phy- 
sical and  moral  agents,  separate  or  united,  must  be  used  in  the 
treatment  of  hallucinations  according  to  circumstances. 

Solitude  is  a  necessary  measure  in  a  great  many  cases  ;  but  it 
must  not  always  be  insisted  on. 

Two  divisions  should  be  established  in  their  treatment  ;  that 
of  physical  agency,  and  that  of  moral  means. 

In  physical  treatment,  the  most  useful  therapeutic  agents  are 
bleeding,  refreshing  drinks,  baths,  purgatives,  and  blisters,  to 
which  occupation  and  exercise  must  be  added.  In  a  case  of 
delirium  tremens  we  successfully  applied  thirty  leeches  along 
the  sagittal  suture,  after  having  shaved  the  head. 

*  Micliéa,  Du  délire  des  Sensations,  p.  326,  et  seq. 


TREATMENT  OF  HALLUCINATIONS.  497 

In  hallucinations  with  excitement,  we  have  found  great  advan- 
tage in  the  use  of  baths,  prolonged  six,  eight,  or  ten  hours, 
with  irrigation,  according  to  the  method  employed  in  the  treat- 
ment of  fractures. 

A  violent  shock,  physical  or  moral,  has  often  been  the  means 
of  curing  hallucinations. 

Bleeding  even  to  syncope  in  one  case  made  the  patient  blind, 
but  did  not  cure  him  of  his  hallucinations. 

Physical  agents  appear  to  act  generally  in  calming  the  periods 
of  excitement. 

Hallucinations  are  occasionally  cured  by  an  effort  of  nature 
alone.  We  have  elsewhere  noticed  the  case  of  a  lady,  with  whom 
the  malady,  which  had  lasted  nearly  two  years,  intermitted  every 
other  day. 

Medicaments  may  effect  a  cure,  not  by  their  therapeutic  effects, 
but  by  breaking  the  chain  of  ideas  in  the  mind  of  the  patient,  as, 
for  example,  opium  in  greatly  prolonging  the  sleep  of  an  hallu- 
cinated person  far  beyond  the  time  at  which  a  particular  symp- 
tom returns. 

Experience  has  not  yet  decided  on  the  use  of  datura  stramo- 
nium in  cases  of  hallucination. 

Moral  means  may  be  exercised  with  great  success,  but  they 
must  not  be  relied  on  exclusively.  In  their  selection,  the  mind, 
education,  and  nature  of  the  delirium  should  be  taken  into  con- 
sideration. 

That  moral  treatment,  which,  in  following  symptoms,  hastens 
or  retards  its  method  according  to  circumstances,  alters  its 
plans  according  to  persons,  and  proceeds  with  prudence,  appears 
to  us  to  unite  the  greatest  chances  in  favor  of  recovery. 

Leuret's  method  (moral  revulsion)  is  very  difficult  to  apply  to 
persons  habituated  to  reflect,  to  compare,  and  to  will.  The 
obstacles  encountered  in  persuading  by  reasoning,  appear  to  us 
almost  insurmountable  with  insane  persons  of  the  educated 
classes,  especially  when  their  prejudices  are  openly  attacked  ; 
we  therefore  think  that  this  method  should  be  restricted  to  a  cer- 
tain number  of  cases  evidenced  by  the  social  condition  of  the  pa- 
tients, their  general  character,  and  the  quality  of  their  delirium. 

In  the  treatment  of  hallucinations,  recourse  must  sometimes 
be  had  to  physical  means,  sometimes  to  moral,  and  sometimes  to 
the  two  influences  united. 
32 


498  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

Simple  hallucinations,  such  as  exist  with  mental  alienation, 
only  require  a  use  of  the  means  we  have  just  described;  but 
these  are  not  the  only  hallucinations  ;  there  are  others  combined 
with  diseases  of  a  different  order,  such  as  catalepsy,  epilepsy, 
hysteria,  hypochondria,  fevers,  and  acute  inflammatory  or  chronic 
diseases,  etc.  Hallucinations  which  are  manifested  in  the  course 
of  these  diseases  should  be  treated  by  methods  more  or  less 
active  ;  often,  such  means  alone  as  are  usually  directed  against 
the  diseases  themselves.  Moral  treatment  has  been  successfully 
applied  in  several  instances. 

It  is  sometimes  necessary  to  use  therapeutic  agents  against 
hallucinations  compatible  with  reason. 


CHAPTER    XX. 

OF  HALLUCINATIONS  CONSIDERED  IN  RELATION  TO  MEDICAL 
JURISPRUDENCE. 

The  hallucinated  confounded  with  vagabonds,  robbers,  murderers,  etc. — 1.  In- 
fluence of  hallucinations  on  the  conduct  during  waking  and  sleeping — 2.  Influ- 
ence of  illusions  under  similar  circumstances — 3.  Of  sequestration,  commission 
of  lunacy,  and  competency  to  testify — Hallucinations  causes  of  injuiious  and 
dangerous  actions,  such  as  suicide,  homicide,  robbery,  arson,  challenges,  duels, 
etc. — Facts — The  occuiTences  which  take  place  in  maniacal  delirium  and  in 
acute  delirium  are  often  the  results  of  hallucinations  and  illusions — Sometimes 
hallucination  is  the  real  cause  of  acts  performed  under  the  influence  of  an 
illusion — The  decisions  caused  by  hallucinations  are  sometimes  instantaneous 
— Certain  circumstances,  such  as  darkness,  etc.,  appear  to  favor  them — The 
hallucinations  of  sleep  may  occasion  crimes — Medico-legal  examination  of 
sudden  hallucinations — Instances  of  illusions  which  have  caused  crimes — The 
delirium  of  di'unkards  is  very  frequently  accompanied  by  hallucinations  and 
illusions — Hallucinations  and  illusions  explain  many  actions  which  appear 
incomprehensible. 

A  FATAL  destiny  seems  to  pursue  the  hallucinated.  If  he 
escapes  from  the  hospital,  he  finds  the  gates  of  the  prison  clos- 
ing on  him.  Such  is,  in  fact,  the  nature  of  his  disease,  that  he 
is  regarded  as  a  guilty  man  if  he  does  not  pass  for  a  crazy  man. 

How  often,  indeed,  have  we  had  an  opportunity  of  remarking 
that  men,  charged  with  vagrancy,  robhery,  breaches  of  the 
peace,  and  murders,  were  only  unfortunate  persons  who  had 
yielded  to  the  suggestions  of  hallucinations  and  insanity.* 

It  is  only  a  short  time  ago  that  the  Gf-azette  des  Tî'ihunaux 
related  the  misfortunes  of  a  poor  deranged  man,  confined  at  La 
Force  as  a  vagabond  : — 

Case  CLXIII.  Last  week  a  man,  about  forty  years  old, 
named  Auguste  Victor  Chevillard,  appeared  before  the  correc- 

*  We  protest  against  the  too  extended  definition  that  has  been  given  to 
the  word  monomania.  There  is  no  doubt  that  the  aegis  of  insanity  has 
frequently  protected  real  criminals. 


500  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

tional  tribunal,  charged  -witli  vagrancy.  The  incoherence  of 
his  answers,  his  melancholy,  his  wandering  gaze,  gave  the  court 
reason  to  suppose  that  this  man  might  not  have  the  use  of  his 
senses  ;  and  M.  Brierre  de  Boismont  was  commissioned  by  the 
presiding  judge,  Salmon,  to  examine  him,  decide  upon  his  men- 
tal state,  and  make  his  report  on  the  subject  to  the  court. 

At  the  hearing  on  this  day.  Dr.  Brierre  de  Boismont  re- 
ported as  follows:  "I  went  to  the  prison  where  Chevillard  was 
confined,  and  talked  long  with  him.  I  asked  to  what  he  at- 
tributed his  misery  and  vagabond  condition.  To  this  question 
he  replied,  with  beaming  eyes,  and  rapid  and  violent  gesticula- 
tion :  'It  is  my  enemies  who  pursue  me  everywhere  ;  they  have 
ruined  me  ;  still,  they  are  not  satisfied  ;  they  arrest  me  in  the 
streets,  and  thrust  me  into  prison.' — 'But  who  are  these  ene- 
mies?'— 'I  do  not  see  them,  but  I  hear  them;  they  talk  to  me, 
and  whisper  in  my  ears  ;  they  would  take  all  I  have  left  ;  but 
they  shall  not  have  it,  even  if  they  kill  me,  for  I  will  swallow 
it  with  the  last  breath  I  draw.  Such  as  you  see  me,  I  am  yet 
richer  than  the  Emperor  of  China  and  the  King  of  Mogador; 
I  possess  the  key  of  the  treasures;  and  I  can  enrich  whoever  I 
will,  and  yet  be  no  poorer.' 

"  For  a  time,"  said  M.  de  Boismont,  "  I  coincided  with  the 
hallucinations  of  this  poor  man,  and  asked  him  where  his  trea- 
sures were.  'They  are  in  Prussia,'  he  replied,  with  confidence, 
'  but  I  have  never  been  there  ;  I  have  been  farther — to  Cal- 
cutta— but  never  to  Prussia.  I  should  want  two  thousand  francs 
for  the  voyage  and  expenses  ;  my  bitter  enemies  prevent  me 
from  finding  as  much.'  '  Do  you  think  that  your  enemies  get 
into  your  prison  ?  If  they  do,  I  will  give  notice  to  the  director, 
who  will  take  precautions  that  you  may  be  left  in  peace.'  'It 
would  be  needless;  they  would  come  through  the  walls.' 

"  On  quitting  la  Force,"  continues  M.  de  Boismont,  "  I  went 
to  Bicetre  ;  from  1830  to  1843,  Chevillard  had  been  received 
there  seven  times.  The  memoranda  on  the  registers,  written  by 
several  medical  men  in  the  house,  proved  that  he  had  been  fre- 
quently attacked,  sometimes  with  a  restless  insanity,  at  others 
with  melancholy  ;  and  had  been  once  brought  in  for  an  attempt 
on  his  life.  I  yesterday  went  again  to  see  him  at  La  Force  ;  he 
is  under  the  same  influence  ;  his  enemies  continue  to  pursue 
him,  and  he  still  holds  the  key  of  his  treasures.     Such  are  the 


HALLUCINATIONS  IN  RELATION  TO  MEDICAL  JURISPRUDENCE.     501 

facts  which  I  have  collected.  My  opinion  is,  that  this  man  is 
under  the  influence  of  hallucinations  which  disturb  his  reason. 
Perhaps,  if  he  were  subjected  to  a  long  treatment,  he  might  at- 
tain to  greater  calmness,  but  he  could  never  be  trusted  alone  ; 
it  would  be  best  to  send  him  back  to  Bicêtre. 

"  At  this,  Chevillard,  who  did  not  utter  a  word  during  the 
report  of  the  doctor,  said  in  a  low  voice  :  '  I  will  go  no  more  to 
Bicêtre  ;  it  is  an  inquisition  ;  they  all  say  that  I  am  mad.  Well  ! 
there  is  something  for  the  unbelievers.'  Saying  this,  he  put 
into  the  clerk's  hand  a  little  square  piece  of  paper,  written  on 
both  sides.     On  the  face  was  written  : — 

"  '  9th  November,  1844.  Whatever  may  be  the  opinion  held 
of  me,  I  engage  to  provide  a  happy  fate  and  a  prosperous  and 
very  agreeable  life  to  the  person  who  can  lay  out  four  or  five 
thousand  francs,  and  to  give  him  a  profit  of  from  one  to  two 
hundred  francs  a  day.' 

"On  the  reverse  : — 

"  '  Whoever  may  have  only  two  or  three  thousand  francs  to 
lay  out,  may  easily  and  securely  obtain  a  profit  of  from  eight 
hundred  to  one  thousand  francs  per  month. 

"  '  Seeing  is  believing  !  !  ! 

"  '  Chevillard, 
"  '  Rue  Saint- Jacques-la  Boucherie^  No.  14, 

à  Paris  (Discharged).' 

"  The  tribunal  dismissed  the  case,  and  ordained  that  Chevil- 
lard should  be  placed  at  the  disposal  of  the  administrative 
authority."* 

And  how,  indeed,  could  it  be  otherwise  ?  If  this  man,  who 
is  convinced  that  he  is  surrounded  with  enemies;  that  he  sees 
them  before  him,  hears  their  threats,  abuses,  pursues,  and  en- 
deavors to  strike  and  kill  them,  by  a  singular  aberration  of 
mind — which  has  been  an  object  of  study  with  us  in  our  article 
on  illusions — should  transform  the  figures  of  his  keepers  into 
those  of  his  imagined  enemies,  the  most  serious  consequences 
might  result  from  the  error. 

Hallucinations  in  the  example  just  given,  have  paralyzed  the 
strength  of  the  individual  ;  absorbed  by  his  one  idea,  he  cannot 

*  Gazette  des  Tribunaux,  Décembre,  1844. 


502  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

devote  himself  to  any  kind  of  labor  ;  to  such  misery,  and  a 
forced  vagrancy,  a  prison  is  an  inevitable  consequence. 

But  these  waking  dreams  may  involve  the  most  frightful  mis- 
fortunes. Who  does  not  recall  the  catastrophe  of  the  Rue  de  la 
Fidéleté,  where  a  man,  under  hallucination,  massacred,  in  the 
wanderings  of  his  reason,  wife,  children,  and  neighbors,  and  im- 
molated himself  on  this  bloody  altar  ? 

Every  paper  recounts  similar  cases,  and  we  lately  read 
amongst  them  the  following  details  : — 

Case  CLXIV.  One  of  those  horrible  dramas  which  terrify 
humanity,  is  thus  related  by  the  Brussels  papers  : — 

"A  deplorable  event  yesterday  morning  horrified  the  inhabi- 
tants of  the  Quartier  du  Marché  au  Fromage,  in  this  city. 
Madame  X.  (a  French  woman,  aged  thirty-two),  married,  and 
having  a  pretty  little  girl  of  eighteen  months,  inhabited  a  cham- 
ber in  this  quarter. 

"  Her  husband,  a  professor,  had  been  absent  for  several  days 
at  Tirleraont,  where  he  expected  a  situation  in  a  school  ;  his  wife, 
whose  religious  ideas  had  for  some  time  been  very  much  excited, 
and  had  even  on  several  occasions  taken  the  form  of  hallucina- 
tions, was  attacked  during  the  night  with  a  fit  of  homicidal 
monomania  ;  she  thought  she  saw  angels,  who  commanded  her 
to  kill  her  child  in  order  that  it  might  become  an  angel  likewise  ; 
her  husband  also  appeared  to  her,  crowned  with  white  roses  ;  he 
was  wounded,  and  held  weapons  in  his  hands.  In  this  state,  he 
informed  her  that  he  had  destroyed  himself  in  order  to  enter 
paradise,  and  invited  her  to  kill  her  child  and  herself  in  order 
to  rejoin  him  in  the  abodes  of  bliss. 

"  This  unfortunate  woman  soon  executed  the  dreams  of  her 
diseased  brain  ;  she  smothered  her  child  with  her  hands,  after 
having  vainly  attempted  to  choke  it  with  crumbs  of  bread.  The 
poor  little  victim  being  dispatched,  she  endeavored  to  commit 
suicide,  and  stabbed  herself  in  several  places  under  the  left 
breast  with  a  small  pocket-knife;  but  pain,  and  the  instinct  of 
self-preservation,  doubtless,  struggled  against  her  monomania, 
and  made  her  abandon  this  weapon.  She  then  lay  down  by  the 
corpse  of  her  child,  hoping  that  God  would  not  long  delay  to 
call  her  to  himself,  and  reunite  her  to  her  child. 

"In  this  melancholy  situation  she  was  discovered  on  Saturday 
morning.     As  soon  as  the  authorities  heard  of  it,  the  king's 


HALLUCINATIONS  IN  RELATION  TO  MEDICAL  JURISPRUDENCE.    503 

attorney,  one  of  the  justices  of  the  peace,  and  Drs.  Jolly  and 
Vanderlaer  visited  the  spot,  and  having  decided  on  the  mental 
state  of  this  unhappy  mother,  she  was  conveyed  to  St.  John's 
Hospital. 

"By  a  singular  coincidence,  the  husband  arrived  unexpectedly 
at  the  very  moment  when  his  maniac  wife  and  the  corpse  of 
his  child  were  being  conveyed  to  the  hospital." 

These  two  examples,  selected  from  many  others,  will  serve  as 
an  introduction  to  the  study  of  hallucinations  considered  in 
their  relation  to  medical  jurisprudence  and  civil  institutions. 

The  importance  of  this  study  has  already  been  implied  in  its 
symptomatology  and  the  specific  cases  given.  It  is  beginning  to 
be  understood  that  a  number  of  those  strange  acts,  placed  hereto- 
fore in  the  annals  of  crime,  are  referable  to  insanity,  and,  above 
all,  to  hallucinations. 

The  subject  is  so  highly  interesting  that  we  must  enter  fully 
upon  its  developments.  We  shall  examine,  first,  the  influence  of 
hallucinations  on  the  conduct,  waking  and  sleeping;  secondly, 
that  of  illusions  under  analogous  circumstances  ;  and,  thirdly, 
inquire  at  what  point  hallucinations  demand  sequestration  and 
commission  of  lunacy,  and  whether  this  state  of  mind  does  not 
require  the  acts  of  the  person  under  examination  to  be  con- 
sidered invalid. 

Hallucinations  may  be  the  cause  of  many  reprehensible  and 
dangerous  resolves.  Some  madmen  commit  suicide,  in  order  to 
escape  the  vision  which  haunts  them;  others  steal,  because  a 
voice  constantly  insists  that  the  object  they  take  belongs  to 
them.  Some  are  incendiaries;  and  a  great  number  utter  insults 
and  menaces,  strike,  and  even  commit  murder. 

A  man  may  be  found  in  a  secluded  spot  with  evident  marks  of 
having  met  with  a  violent  death.  The  first  thought  that  occurs 
to  the  mind  is,  that  a  crime  has  been  committed  ;  but  it  may  have 
been  a  suicide,  and  this  unhappy  termination  may  have  been  the 
result  of  a  false  sensation.  A  clerk,  believes  that  he  sees  the 
gendarmes  surrounding  him,  to  seize  and  bear  him  away  to  the 
scafiFold.  Wishing  to  save  his  wife  from  dishonor,  he  stands  a 
whole  night,  whilst  she  sleeps,  with  an  open  razor  at  her  throat. 
Fortunately  his  idea  takes  another  direction,  and  he  casts  the 
weapon  from  him.  On  the  following  day,  still  tormented  by 
the  sight  of  his  persecutors,  and  unable  longer  to  support  it,  he 


504  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

drowns  himself.  A  merchant,  who  had  hitherto  enjoyed  the 
esteem  of  all  who  knew  him,  heard  voices  which  reproached  him 
with  an  evil  action.  These  voices  did  not  leave  him  an  instant 
of  repose.  His  family  and  friends  endeavored  to  comfort  him. 
He  appeared  to  have  obtained  calmness  of  mind,  and  went  up 
stairs  to  go  to  rest.  A  few  minutes  afterwards  it  was  dis- 
covered that  he  had  hung  himself. 

Case  CLXV.  A  lady  had  brought  up  an  orphan  girl,  whom 
she  treated  with  great  kindness.  Some  rabbits  were  given  into 
the  charge  of  the  child.  An  idea  came  into  her  head  that  if 
she  killed  them  she  would  be  driven  away.  The  probable  con- 
sequences of  this  evil  action  acted  so  forcibly  on  her  imagina- 
tion that  she  finally  heard  a  voice  desiring  her  to  kill  these 
animals.  The  more  terrified  she  became  at  the  counsel,  the 
louder  rang  the  voice  in  her  ear,  for  she  thought  of  nothing 
else.  Thus  continually  tormented,  and  not  being  able  to  escape 
from  her  idea,  she  thought  to  rid  herself  of  it  by  yielding,  and 
the  rabbits  were  destroyed.  Long  afterwards  this  unhappy  girl 
committed  suicide.* 

Every  one  must  have  occasionally  remarked  the  sudden  rise  of 
painful  ideas  in  the  mind,  whose  persistence  is  really  strange. 
It  seems  impossible  to  drive  them  away.  The  force  of  evidence 
can  alone  triumph  over  them.  This  singular  state  lasts  some- 
times several  days,  and  particularly  with  nervous  persons.  But 
if  by  some  means  the  idea  is  not  repulsed  it  becomes  fixed,  and 
the  organization  is  subdued  beneath  its  tyrannical  power.  The 
irresistibility  of  certain  ideas  is  proved  by  a  thousand  examples. 
The  writer  of  Pinel  threw  himself  into  the  Thames  ;  and  when 
he  was  asked  to  give  a  reason  for  this  act,  he  replied  that  he 
had  been  driven  to  it  in  spite  of  himself.  The  barber  spoken  of 
by  Forbes,  made  a  gash  in  the  throat  of  a  person  whom  he 
was  shaving,  but  he  could  not  explain  why  he  did  it,  etc.f 

The  examples  of  this  class  are  numerous,  and  there  is  no 
doubt  that  insanity  and  hallucinations  make  up  a  great  number 
of  the  list  of  suicides  exhibited  yearly  in  the  public  records. 

*  Chardel,  Essai  de  Psychologie  Physiologique,  3d  edition,  1  vol.  in  8vo. 
Paris,  1844,  page  205. 

t  Boileau  de  Castelnau,  De  la  Folie  instantanée  au  point  de  vue  médico- 
judiciaire  [Annal.  Med.  Psych.  t.  iii.  ann.  1851,  pp.  307  and  479). 


HALLUCINATIONS  IN  RELATION  TO  MEDICAL  JURISPRUDENCE.     505 

In  each  of  the  cases  just  cited,  the  cause  of  suicide  was  evident. 
But  it  is  not  always  thus  ;  if  the  clerk  had  cut  the  throat  of  his 
wife  and  had  then  drowned  himself,  it  is  probable  this  bloody 
tragedy  would  have  been  attributed  to  any  but  the  real  motives. 

Again,  suicide  may  be  occasioned  by  a  voice  apparently  from 
the  street,  calling  to  the  hallucinated  ;  he,  hastening  to  obey 
the  call,  will  be  precipitated  from  the  window,  under  the  idea 
that  he  is  walking  out  of  his  room.  A  madman  imagines  that 
he  sees  a  bright  chariot  waiting  to  transport  him  to  heaven  ;  he 
opens  his  window,  walks  quietly  out  to  mount  the  chariot,  and 
falls  on  the  pavement. 

Suicide  often  occurs  in  maniacal  delirium  and  acute  delirium, 
which  accompany  febrile  affections.  When  it  has  been  possible 
to  discover  the  origin  of  these  catastrophes,  it  has  constantly 
been  found  that  they  were  the  result  of  hallucinations  and  illu- 
sions, which  engendered  panic  terrors  ;  and  that  there  are,  as 
regards  motives,  fewer  suicides  than  attempts,  induced  by  a 
sentiment  of  self-preservation,  to  escape  from  chimerical  dangers. 
I  remember,  says  Marc,  a  patient  attacked  with  typhus,  when 
that  disease  raged  in  the  city,  who  would  have  thrown  himself 
from  the  window  had  he  not  been  prevented.  When  this  deli- 
rium was  reduced,  he  recollected  perfectly  that  he  thought  him- 
self pursued  by  a  horrible  phantom,  from  which  he  was  endeav- 
oring to  escape.* 

If  hallucinations  be  a  cause  of  suicide,  they  no  less  fre- 
quently occasion  attempts  against  the  lives  of  others.  Sad  and 
melancholy  ideas,  and  fear,  concur  singularly  in  producing  these 
acts.  The  fear  of  the  police  and  of  the  pursuit  of  enemies,  has 
in  a  great  measure  taken  the  place  of  the  dread  of  the  devil  and 
of  spirits  ;  although,  for  several  years  past,  demonomania  has 
again  dawned  on  the  horizon.  Nothing  is  more  common  than 
to  be  consulted  on  the  cases  of  madmen  who  think  themselves  a 
mark  for  persecution,  and  whose  death  is  being  sought  for  by 
poisoning  or  assassination.  I  was  called  to  attend  a  lady,  who 
appeared  in  full  possession  of  her  reason.  She  said  to  me,  with 
the  greatest  coolness  :  "  Sir,  eight  days  since,  in  going  to  mass, 
I  perceived  that  I  was  followed  by  ill-looking  men.     On  leaving 

*  Marc,  de  la  Folie  considérée  dans  ses  rapports  avec  les  questions 
médico-judiciaires,  2  vol.  8vo.  Paris,  1840,  t.  ii.  p.  156. 


506  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

the  church,  I  found  three  of  them  lying  in  ambush  in  the  Rue 
de  l'Ouest  ;  one  attempted  to  rush  upon  me.  The  day  before 
yesterday,  the  porter  of  my  house  placed  a  ladder  against  the 
wall,  in  order  to  enter  my  room  ;  but  on  seeing  me,  he  retreated. 
Everybody  is  trying  to  harm  me  ;  I  am  surrounded  with  assas- 
sins." This  variety  of  monomania  almost  always  exists  with 
hallucinations  of  sight  and  hearing. 

The  patients  who  are  tormented  by  these  ideas,  imagine  that 
improper  words  and  insults  are  whispered  into  their  ears.  They 
assert  that  they  are  spoken  ill  of,  and  looked  on  askance.  In 
order  to  escape  these  annoyances,  some  seek  solitude,  change 
places  incessantly,  and  endeavor  to  conceal  their  traces;  others, 
of  a  bolder  character,  face  their  imagined  enemies  and  challenge 
them,  who  no  doubt  fall  under  the  blows  of  these  madmen. 

Case  CLXVI.  "In  1831,"  says  M.  Gauthier,  "I  was  on  my 
way  from  Lyons  to  St.  Amour.  We  were  four  in  the  coach  ;  a 
priest  and  myself  in  the  cowj^é,  and  an  officer  and  another  per- 
son in  the  interior.  This  officer  had  fallen  into  serious  troubles  ; 
he  had  been  imprisoned,  dismissed  from  his  regiment,  and  sent 
to  Strasbourg.  He  entered  the  coach  very  quietly  ;  but  we  had 
scarcely  gone  half  a  league,  when  he  uttered  violent  shrieks. 
He  said  he  was  insulted,  and  demanded  reparation.  He  called 
to  the  conductor,  and  made  him  stop  the  carriage,  when  he 
hastily  mounted  on  the  imperial,  where  he  thought  he  heard  the 
voice  of  a  man  named  Pouzet,  with  whom  he  had  had  some  differ- 
ences in  the  regiment  ;  he  sought  him  everywhere.  Not  finding 
him,  he  re-entered  the  carriage  in  the  greatest  agitation  ;  con- 
tinuing to  hear  the  voice  of  this  individual,  who  still  insulted 
him,  and  told  him  that  he  had  been  discharged.  He  became 
much  enraged,  and  insisted  on  fighting  him.  We  arrived  at 
Meximieux  at  midnight  ;  whilst  the  horses  were  being  changed, 
this  unfortunate  being  got  out,  drew  his  sword,  and  exclaimed  ; 
*  Pouzet,  come  out  from  your  concealment  !  Come  and  fight  ! 
These  gentlemen  will  be  witnesses.  If  you  do  not  show  yourself, 
and  I  assassinate  you,  the  blame  will  rest  on  your  cowardice.' 
As  Pouzet  did  not  appear,  the  officer  again  mounted  the  impe- 
rial, and  thrust  his  sword  several  times  into  the  packages  with  the 
idea  of  stabbing  his  enemy.  '  Where  has  he  hidden  himself?' 
he  exclaimed:  '  I  hear  the  coward  ;  he  insults  me,  but  I  cannot 
find  him.' 


HALLUCINATIONS  IN  RELATION  TO  MEDICAL  JURISPRUDENCE.     507 

"  Finally,  he  again  got  into  the  carriage,  but  his  agitation  and 
fury  lasted  until  our  arrival  at  Buoy,  where  we  stopped  for 
breakfast.  The  priest  endeavored  to  calm  him — begged  him  to 
forget  his  injuries,  and  pardon  his  enemy.  '  I  consent,  Mon- 
sieur l'Abbé,'  said  the  officer;  '  be  our  mediator.  But  let  him 
show  himself  ! — let  him  acknowledge  his  wrongs  ! — let  him  stay 
his  insults  !  Do  you  not  hear  the  coward  ?  He  continues  to 
insult  me  ;  he  says  I  have  been  discharged  ;  it  is  false — I  have 
only  changed  my  regiment.  Pouzet,  show  yourself!  come  and 
fight  !  If  you  do  not,  I  will  report  you  everywhere  as  a  villain. 
They  will  spit  in  your  face,  and  tear  off  your  epaulettes.'  We 
offered  him  breakfast,  but  he  declined.  This  agitated  state 
lasted  until  our  arrival  at  Lons-le-Saulnier,  where  he  was  taken 
to  the  hospital."* 

With  the  progress  of  the  moral  affection,  all  the  means  em- 
ployed by  these  patients  to  escape  the  plots  of  their  enemies  are 
ineffectual.  They  introduce  themselves  into  their  dwellings, 
annoy  them  constantly  ;  speak  ironical,  injurious,  and  menacing 
words  ;  appear  to  them  in  the  streets,  and  in  the  silence  of  night. 
Frequently,  illusion  is  combined  with  hallucination,  and  they 
see  enemies  in  every  person  whom  they  meet. 

When  the  disorder  has  reached  this  point,  the  patient  becomes 
so  exasperated  that  he  resolves  to  escape  this  constant  and 
frightful  torment  by  suicide.  This  result  more  frequently 
takes  place  when  he  thinks  that  his  enemies  wish  to  be  rid  of 
him  by  means  of  poison.  He  then  frequently  refuses  all  kinds 
of  nourishment,  because  it  tastes  badly,  or  has  a  suspicious  odor, 
and  thus  he  dies  of  hunger.  At  other  times  the  insane,  furious 
at  these  persecutions,  form  projects  of  vengeance,  strike,  wound, 
or  kill  the  first  person  whom  they  meet,  and  who,  as  they  say, 
pays  for  the  rest.  Under  some  circumstances,  they  conceive 
a  hatred  for  their  nearest  relative,  or  the  person  whom  they 
most  frequently  see,  and  their  act  in  this  case  may  impose  on 
inexperienced  minds,  who  look  on  it  as  an  act  of  revenge. 

Insane  hallucinated  persons  of  this  class  are  in  general  very 
formidable,  and  the  examples  we  shall  give  will  justify  our  asser- 
tion. 

Case  CLXVII.  Mr.  R.  de  G.  was  engaged  in  an  office  under 

*  Bottex,  op.  cit. 


508  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

government,  and  inhabited,  previously  to  his  arrival  in  Paris,  a 
provincial  town,  where  his  mode  of  life  excited  much  attention. 
He  suddenly  changed  his  hotel,  and  took  his  meals  out,  no  one 
knew  where.  At  times,  he  cooked  his  food  during  the  night;  and 
when  he  dined  in  town,  he  would  not  touch  any  dish  until  it  had 
been  tasted  by  others.  Such  was  his  mistrust  that  he  closed 
his  doors  with  several  locks,  and  made  those  who  came  to  see 
him  wait  a  long  time  for  admission.  In  order  to  defy  curiosity, 
he  spoke  of  projected  voyages  which  he  had  no  intention  of 
making.  His  gloomy  and  uncourteous  character  had  created 
antipathies  towards  him,  which  his  superior  desired  to  avert  by 
speaking  kindly  with  him  on  the  subject  ;  but  he  coolly  replied, 
that  there  was  an  association  of  poisoners,  headed  by  one  Me- 
rope  (an  imaginary  personage),  whose  agents  pursued  him  every- 
where, and  had  partially  succeeded  in  their  attempts  on  him, 
since  he  suffered  the  most  dreadful  pains  in  his  bowels. 

Shortly  after  his  arrival  in  Paris,  he  told  the  clerks  in  his 
office  that  he  had  seen  a  man  hidden  behind  a  hedge,  who  was 
about  to  fire  on  him,  or  at  least  who  had  his  gun  pointed,  and 
that  on  his  approach  the  murderer  disappeared.  He  added  his 
assurance  that  a  man,  whom  he  could  not  recognize,  had  come 
in  the  night  to  saw  the  bars  which  closed  his  room-door,  and  he 
asked  the  loan  of  a  pair  of  pistols  from  one  of  the  clerks,  in 
order  to  defend  himself  against  the  attacks  of  this  person. 
Going  one  day  to  St.  Germain  by  the  railroad,  he  saw  several 
men  in  the  same  carriage  with  himself  who  looked  at  him  in  a 
very  threatening  manner  ;  he  left  them,  took  a  wagon,  and  on 
the  following  day  bought  a  pair  of  pistols.  And  since  then 
some  person  had  attempted  to  stab  him  with  a  poniard. 

This  man  saw  none  but  enemies  surrounding  him,  who  spread 
calumnious  reports,  and  endeavored  to  annoy  and  poison  him. 
Every  one  pointed  at  him,  and  treated  him  as  a  madman,  on 
account  of  his  fears  and  his  mode  of  life.  Above  all,  he  accused 
one  of  the  superior  clerks  of  having  seriously  injured  him,  by 
revealing  his  troubles,  which  he  had  confided  to  him  under  the 
seal  of  secrecy. 

Six  years  previously,  being  at  Fontainebleau,  he  heard  two 
Englishmen  reading  a  mysterious  letter,  in  which  neither  himself 
nor  any  one  of  his  acquaintance  were  mentioned  ;  but  the  terms 
in  which  it  was  conceived,  and  the  kind  of  conversation  held  by 


HALLUCINATIONS  IN  RELATION  TO  MEDICAL  JURISPRUDENCE.     509 

the  foreigners,  inspired  him  with  the  belief  that  persons  were 
suborned  to  destroy  him. 

This  hallucinated  man,  who  always  carried  arms,  said  that  on 
several  occasions  he  had  been  on  the  point  of  using  them,  but 
waited  until  the  individuals  were  near  enough  for  him  to  touch 
them  before  he  fired. 

It  was  under  the  influence  of  this  idea  that  M.  R.  de  G. 
called  on  M.  D.,  who  was  head  of  a  government  office,  and,  in 
a  state  of  great  excitement,  making  him  the  personification  of 
all  his  imagined  enemies,  fired  two  pistols  at  him,  and  then 
attempted  suicide. 

In  listening  to  the  recital  of  these  events,  all  medical  men 
were  agreed  in  recognizing  an  hallucinated  monomaniac.  It  is 
important  to  notice  that  this  idea  of  poisoning,  and  these  con- 
tinual appearances  of  evil-disposed  persons,  which  had  lasted 
during  eight  years,  had  not  prevented  M.  R.  de  G.  from  filling 
with  distinction  the  administrative  career  which  he  had  em- 
braced, and  that,  on  the  eve  of  his  arrest,  he  was  engaged  in 
drawing  up  a  work  which  did  not  betray  the  slightest  derange- 
ment of  mind. 

The  council-chamber  of  the  highest  tribunal  in  Paris,  after 
a  long  examination,  and  a  medico-legal  inquest,  gave  a  verdict 
of  acquittal,  and  placed  him  at  the  disposal  of  the  prefect  of 
police.* 

Case  CLXVIII.  During  the  month  of  May,  the  commissary 
of  police  of  the  seventh  arrondissement  was  called  on  to  establish 
a  murder.  The  culprit  appeared  deeply  afflicted  at  his  crime. 
He  declared  to  the  officer  that  he  had  struck  M.  M.,  because 
every  one  drove  him  to  it  ;  that  he  had  no  angry  feeling  against 
him,  but  wished  to  revenge  himself  on  somebody.  The  evidence 
given  by  the  witnesses  proved  that,  after  having  labored  zeal- 
ously for  seventeen  years  in  a  warehouse,  he  had  suddenly 
quitted  it,  because  ofi"ensive  proposals  were  whispered  into  his 
ears,  and  he  was  exposed  to  ridicule  ;  since  then  he  believed 
himself  to  be  pursued  by  gendarmes  and  police  officers. 

To  the  inquiry,  why  he  struck  M.  M.  with  an  iron  instrument 
freshly  sharpened,  he  replied:  "I  was  pursued  by  evil-disposed 

*  Brierre  de  Boismont,  Médecine-Légale  (Annales  Médico-Psycholog.), 
September  No.  1843. 


510  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

persons,  of  whom  one  seized  me  by  the  throat  in  the  Faubourg 
St.  Denis.  Some  months  before,  I  observed  five  or  six  indi- 
viduals walking  behind  me,  and  saying:  '  He  must  be  killed  !  he 
must  be  killed  !'  I  could  not  walk  in  the  street  without  having 
my  ears  and  feelings  insulted  ;  I  was  called  assassin,  thief,  etc.  ;  it 
was  for  this  reason  that  I  sharpened  the  point  of  a  file,  for,  I 
said,  if  they  want  to  kill  me,  I  must  defend  myself." 

From  the  report,  which  we  gave  in  concert  with  M.  Ferrus, 
Soyez  was  sent  to  Bicêtre,  where  he  passed  several  months  in  a 
state  of  apathy.  We  learned  on  one  of  our  visits  that  he  had 
struck  a  knife  into  one  of  the  attendants,  although  he  had  no 
complaint  to  make  against  him;  the  aûair  was  related  as  follows: 
"  Two  months  since.  Soyez  approached  me  with  a  very  cheerful 
air  ;  he  had  made  but  a  few  steps,  when,  looking  at  himself  in 
a  glass,  he  turned  suddenly  round  on  me,  and  struck  me  so 
violently  with  a  knife  in  the  left  side  that  the  blade  was  broken 
against  a  key,  and  some  money  which  I  fortunately  had  in  my 
pocket.  Whilst  he  was  striking,  and  subsequently,  he  reproached 
me  with  having  burned  him,  and  also  his  wife  and  child.  My 
opinion  is,  that  he  has  hallucinations." 

On  being  interrogated.  Soyez  acknowledged  that  he  had 
formerly  been  insane,  but  had  been  cured.  When  spoken  to 
about  the  attendant  whom  he  had  stabbed,  he  allowed  that  he 
had  wandered  for  a  moment;  but  added,  "he  burned  me,  and  I 
reproached  him;  besides,  he  is  always  burning  me."  He  after- 
wards spoke  to  the  doctors  of  persons  who  jumped  upon  him, 
and  of  extraordinary  things  which  he  saw  during  the  night. 

No  doubt  could  exist  as  to  the  mental  condition  of  Soyez. 
It  was  under  the  influence  of  his  fixed  idea,  and  his  hallucina- 
tions, that  he  had  twice  been  incited  to  such  serious  actions  ; 
and  the  physicians  decided  that  he  was  not  responsible  in  either 
case  ;  that  it  was  due  to  society  that  so  dangerous  a  person, 
whose  cure  was  uncertain,  should  be  placed  in  confinement. 
These  resolutions  were  adopted  by  the  attorney-general,  and  we 
recently  learned  that  the  mental  disease  of  Soyez  had  increased 
and  was  considered  incurable.* 

These  two  examples  suffice  to  exhibit  the  dangerous  character 

*  Brierre  de  Boismont,  Médecine-Légale  (Annales  Médico-Psycholo- 
giques), July,  1844. 


HALLUCINATIONS  IN  RELATION  TO  MEDICAL  JURISPRUDENCE.    511 

of  this  form  of  disease.  In  fact,  the  greater  number  of  crimes 
committed  by  the  insane  have  been  by  melancholy  hallucinated 
monomaniacs. 

We  think  it  right  to  add  to  these  observations  of  our  own,  the 
following,  one  of  which  appeared  in  the  Droit,  Bulletin  des  Tri- 
bunaux, and  the  other  in  the  Annales  d' Hygiene.  The  affair 
brought  the  crew  of  the  ship  Le  Severe  before  the  assizes  at 
Bourbon.  A  circumstance  which  added  greatly  to  the  interest 
of  the  trial  was,  that  the  captain  of  the  vessel,  M.  L.,  had,  since 
his  arrival  in  the  colony,  betrayed  evident  signs  of  mental  alien- 
ation, and  that  without  any  reason,  assigned  or  suspected,  had 
fired  twice  on  a  peaceable  citizen.  A  report  of  three  physicians 
declared  him  to  be  attacked  by  homicidal  monomania.  The  fol- 
lowing is  a  statement  of  the  facts  : — 

Case  CLXIX.  Captain  L.,  during  his  stay  at  Cette,  believed 
that  insults  and  menaces  were  addressed  to  him,  which  induced 
him  to  stand  armed  on  the  bridge  all  night. 

The  vessel  stood  to  sea  for  Bourbon.  During  the  voyage, 
many  distressing  events  occurred  ;  the  captain  on  several  occa- 
sions struck  the  sailors  until  blood  flowed  ;  and  many  other  cir- 
cumstances were  charged  upon  him.  They  deposed  that  he 
looked  at  them  suspiciously,  talked  often  to  himself,  said  that  he 
heard  provocations  and  insults  which  no  one  had  addressed  to 
him  ;  and  that  one  day,  without  any  reason,  he  had  put  his  pis- 
tol to  the  throat  of  the  cabin-boy. 

The  captain,  on  his  side,  complained  of  the  insults  to  which 
he  had  been  constantly  subjected.  Being  pressed  to  state  his 
motive  for  firing  on  a  person  whom  he  scarcely  knew,  he 
very  coolly  asserted  that  for  some  time  he  had  distinctly  heard 
the  voice  of  his  wife  (the  trial  was  occurring  in  Bourbon,  and 
his  wife  was  in  France),  calling  to  him  from  the  cellar  of  the 
house  where  he  lodged,  and  imploring  his  help  ;  that  he  had 
spoken  to  several  public  functionaries  to  have  search  made,  but 
they  had  paid  no  attention  to  him  ;  that  he  had  threatened  them 
for  thus  neglecting  their  public  duties  ;  and  that  after  he  had 
fired  on  one  in  particular,  who  had  provoked  him,  he  had  been 
taken  to  the  hospital,  where  they  had  attempted  to  poison  him 
with  a  glass  of  tisane. 

A  deep  feeling  of  pity  ran  through  the  court  at  this  statement. 
Thus  coolly  asserting  this  nonsense  about  his  wife,  who  pursues 


512  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

him,  and  wliom  he  cannot  find,  and  about  menaces  of  death,  of 
which  he  is  the  object,  and  yet  on  other  points  talking  rationally. 
It  may  be  supposed  that  if  this  disposition  ejfisted  previously 
to  the  scene  which  caused  his  arrest,  it  also  influenced  him  in 
the  menaces  of  which  he  stated  himself  to  be  the  subject,  on  the 
part  of  his  crew. 

The  charge  was  brought  forward  by  the  attorney-general,  and 
the  defence  conducted  by  M.  Ménardière.  After  a  strict  exami- 
nation, the  court  withdrew  to  deliberate,  and  an  unanimous  ver- 
dict of  acquittal  was  the  result.* 

Much  was  said  of  the  serious  injury  done  in  this  case  to  dis- 
cipline. There  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  safety  both  of  the  ves- 
sel and  crew  were  endangered  by  the  monomaniac.f 

Case  CLXX.  J.  B.  D.  was  accused  of  having  killed  his  wife 
during  the  night  of  the  3d  or  4th  of  May,  1828.  A  maternal 
uncle  of  his  had  been  deranged.  His  intellect  was  not  greatly 
developed;  nevertheless,  he  had  profited  by  the  education  he 
had  received.  His  habits  had  always  been  regular  ;  he  had  been 
married  for  several  years,  and  lived  happily  with  his  wife. 

The  mayor  of  his  commune  having  given,  on  occasion  of  the 
fête  of  St.  Charles  (1827),  a  feast  to  the  firemen  of  the  town, 
was  much  joked  by  his  companions.  D.,  irritated  by  their 
remarks,  and  perhaps  elevated  by  wine,  drew  his  sword  on  the 
drummer,  which  gave  rise  to  a  brawl.  Since  that  time  he  had 
appeared  moody  and  suspicious.  Towards  the  close  of  Decem- 
ber following,  he  awoke  one  night  with  a  start,  and  complained 
of  being  ill.  A  medical  man  was  called  in,  who  considered  that 
he  had  a  gastric  afi"ection,  accompanied  by  delirium.  This  doc- 
tor has  since  stated  that  J),  declined  taking  the  medicines  he 
ordered,  saying  that  he  was  leagued  with  his  wife  and  his  father 
to  destroy  him. 

From  that  period  his  character  as  well  as  his  habits  changed. 
He  became  gloomy,  suspicious,  irritable,  and  passionate  ;  he 
abandoned  his  religious  duties,  neglected  his  field  labor,  and 
drank  much  ;  suspected  the  fidelity  of  his  wife  ;  lived  alone, 

*  Le  Droit,  Bulletin  des  Tribunaux,  21st  Feb.  1844 — Court  of  Assize  of 
the  Island  of  Bourbon. 

t  Brierre  de  Boismont,  Observations  médico-légales  sur  les  monomanes 
tristes,  hallucinéa.  Gazette  des  Hôpitaux  civils  et  militaires,  lOth  Octo- 
ber, 1843. 


HALLUCINATIONS  IX  RELATION  TO  MEDICAL  JURISPRUDENCE.    513 

shunned  those  with  whom  he  was  accustomed  to  associate,  went 
out  but  seldom,  and  frequently  exhibited  fears  that  his  life  was 
in  danger.  Overpowered  by  this  chimerical  fear,  he  spoke  con- 
stantly of  enemies  and  plots,  and  persuaded  himself  that  a  man 
named  Robert — of  whom  he  had  often  spoken  both  before  and 
after  the  3d  of  May,  1828,  in  his  conversations,  fits  of  anger, 
letters,  and  evidence — was  the  chief  of  the  conspiracy  hatched 
against  him.  His  old  companions,  his  friends,  his  father,  and 
his  wife,  were  by  turns  ranked  amongst  the  conspirators  ;  and 
yet  on  every  other  subject  he  appeared  rational.  In  one  of 
these  paroxysms,  during  which  his  delirium  was  augmented,  and 
his  fears  and  suspicions  increased,  he  swallowed  sulphuric  acid, 
not  being  able,  as  he  said,  to  resist  the  torments  which  he  expe- 
rienced, and  wishing  to  be  rid  of  his  enemies.  This  attempt  at 
suicide  took  place  in  the  spring  of  1827. 

The  medical  men  who  attended  D.,  at  the  commencement  of 
his  malady,  after  his  attempt  at  suicide,  and  since  that  time, 
attested  that  he  had  a  mental  alienation,  which  they  called 
melancholy  with  delirium,  characterized  by  imaginary  fears, 
conviction  that  his  death  was  being  sought  for,  frequent  fits  of 
weeping,  the  pursuit  of  men,  etc.  Some  witnessed  to  having 
seen  D.  hide  himself  behind  the  house  door,  or  run  away,  when- 
ever any  one  called.  Others  had  seen  him  in  the  fields  making 
strange  gestures,  and  talking  to  himself. 

On  the  3d  of  May,  1828,  D.  passed  the  evening  in  company 
with  his  wife  and  a  third  person^  until  nine  o'clock  ;  nothing 
indicated  the  disquiet  and  restlessness  of  a  person  about  to 
commit  a  double  crime  (his  wife  being  pregnant).  He  embraced 
her,  and  invited  her  to  supper,  after  which  they  retired  to  rest. 

On  the  following  morning,  the  4th  of  May,  the  wife  was  found 
dead  in  her  bed  ;  a  napkin  was  spread  over  the  corpse,  and  a 
cross  laid  thereon.  Her  husband  had  gone  away  with  his 
father's  horse.  The  clothes  which  he  had  worn  on  the  preceding 
day  were  found  covered  with  blood  in  the  cellar.  After  a  search 
of  nine  days,  he  was  found,  and  the  following  facts  gathered 
from  himself  and  others.  Having  killed  his  sleeping  wife  with 
a  mallet,  which  he  fetched  out  of  the  yard,  he  went  to  the 
wardrobe  for  a  napkin,  spread  it  over  the  body,  and  placed  upon 
it  a  cross,  which  was  on  the  mantel-piece,  washed  his  hands  in  a 
tub,  took  off  his  blood-stained  clothes,  which  he  threw  into  the 
33 


514  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

cellar,  stocked  himself  with  money,  took  his  father's  horse, 
closed  the  door  of  the  house,  the  key  of  Avhich  he  hid,  and  fled 
across  the  fields,  avoiding  the  high  roads.  He  reached  an  inn, 
ate  heartily,  and  drank  two  bottles  of  wine,  leaving  articles  in 
the  inn  by  which  he  could  be  recognized,  and  went  oif.  For 
nine  days  he  concealed  himself,  and  was  arrested  on  the  11th  of 
May,  having  both  said  and  done  things  which  betrayed  him. 

On  being  delivered  up  to  justice,  letters  were  found  upon  him, 
which  he  had  written  during  his  nine  days'  flight.  Two  of  these 
were  addressed  to  the  king;  in  them,  his  enemies  were  denounced, 
but  at  the  same  time  his  Majesty  was  entreated  not  to  punish 
them.  The  others  were  for  two  of  his  relatives,  in  which  he 
confessed  the  murder  which  he  had  committed,  and  demanded 
a  passport  for  a  foreigner  under  a  false  name. 

In  his  examination,  D.  gave  all  the  details  of  the  murder  and 
the  precautions  which  he  had  taken  to  avoid  arrest;  but  he 
wandered  as  to  the  motives  which  had  induced  him  to  it,  and  gave 
several  different  reasons.  Now,  he  pretended  that  he  was  intoxi- 
cated; then,  that  he  was  angry,  because  his  wife  had  refused  to 
give  him  money;  and,  again,  that  he  was  exasperated  and  irri- 
tated by  the  bad  advice  which  was  given  to  his  wife,  who,  never- 
theless, was  very  virtuous;  finally,  he  accused  his  enemies  of 
having  tempted  him  to  it,  in  order  to  destroy  him,  and  particu- 
larly accused  Robert, 

During  his  imprisonment,  D.  wrote  several  times  to  his  father, 
to  the  magistrates,  to  his  medical  attendant,  etc.  All  these 
letters  resembled  each  other  in  their  incoherence,  their  length, 
the  repetition  of  similar  ideas  in  excusing  himself  or  accusing  his 
enemies,  especially  Robert,  or  in  attempting  to  excite  pity  in  his 
behalf.  His  excuses,  regrets,  accusations,  requests,  and  recom- 
mendations were  ridiculous,  extravagant,  and  highly  unbecoming 
one  in  his  position.  It  was  perfectly  evident  from  these  letters, 
that  he  had  no  moral  consciousness  of  the  double  crime  he  had 
committed,  nor  the  punishment  it  deserved. 

The  attorney-general  gave  a  requisition  that  no  proceedings 
could  be  instituted  against  him  so  long  as  he  was  declared 
insane.  The  court  thought  that  the  proceedings  did  not  suffi- 
ciently establish  his  insanity  at  the  period  of  committing  the 
crime,  since  the  precautions  which  he  had  taken  to  escape  the 
pursuit  of  justice,  proved  that  he  then  had  consciousness  of  a 


HALLUCINATIONS  IN  RELATION  TO  MEDICAL  JURISPRUDENCE.     515 

crime  committed,  and  of  a  punishment  consequent  thereon.  Upon 
this,  on  the  14th  of  August,  1828,  an  order  was  given  to  arraign 
D.  for  the  murder  of  his  wife.  The  court,  by  a  decree  of  the  fol- 
lowing 12th  of  September,  ordered  an  additional  investigation. 

In  consequence  of  this  judgment,  D.  was  sent  to  Paris,  and 
placed  in  the  insane  division  at  Bicêtre,  where  he  could  be 
closely  watched  by  the  experienced  undersigned. 

During  the  first  few  weeks  of  his  stay  at  Bicêtre,  D.  remained 
quite  alone,  took  no  exercise,  never  spoke,  and  appeared  in  a 
stupor,  wept  long  and  often,  particularly  when  questioned  re- 
lative to  the  murder  which  he  had  committed,  the  motives 
which  led  him  to  it,  his  actual  position,  etc.,  when  his  face 
would  become  much  flushed.  If  pressed  with  questions,  he 
would  accuse  his  enemies,  particularly  Robert,  of  having  led 
him  into  these  criminal  paths.  He  spoke  of  the  murder  of  his 
wife  as  of  a  thing  in  which  a  third  person  was  culpable  ;  and 
loudly  demanded  his  freedom,  saying:  "It  is  not  my  fault." 
He  also  wrote  several  letters,  which  resembled  in  all  points 
those  which  he  wrote  before  his  removal  to  Bicêtre.  On  other 
subjects  neither  his  acts  nor  remarks  were  irrational. 

After  remaining  for  some  months  in  the  hospital,  he  became 
more  communicative,  took  more  exercise,  conversed  more  readily 
with  the  attendants  and  the  patients,  and  even  argued  with 
them  on  matters  foreign  to  his  position.  He  wept  more  rarely, 
excepting  when  he  was  questioned  as  to  the  cause  of  his  being 
in  the  hospital.  But  the  acuteness  of  his  replies  proved  that  he 
was  aware  of  his  position  in  regard  to  the  law.  He  occupied 
himself  with  manual  labor  and  learned  to  net  purses. 

On  the  14th  of  April,  1829,  a  great  change  was  observed  in 
D.  ;  he  became  restless  and  appeared  distressed.*  It  was  evident 
that  he  had  hallucinations  of  hearing.  He  complained  that  the 
inmates  of  the  hospital  said  disagreeable  things  to  him  as  they 
passed  him,  and  expressed  dissatisfaction  towards  some  of  the 
patients  with  whom  he  had  argued,  but  he  had  never  either 
disputed  or  quarrelled  with  them. 

On  the  16th  of  April,  he  requested  to  be  shut  up  ;  and  gave 

*  This  sudden  alteration  in  the  habits  of  an  insane  person  deserves 
particular  notice.  Whenever  we  have  observed  it  in  our  establishment, 
the  individual  has  attempted  suicide,  escape,  etc. 


616  ON  HALLUCmATIONS. 

to  the  physician,  attending  the  insane  in  the  hospital,  one  of 
the  undersigned,  a  crochet  needle,  wishing  by  that  means  to 
show  his  unwillingness  to  harm  any  one.  "I  do  not  desire,"  he 
repeated,  "to  harm  any  one." 

On  the  18th  of  April,  D.  went  to  rest,  without  the  keepers 
havinof  remarked  more  agitation  in  him  than  in  the  preceding 
days.  During  the  night  he  left  the  dormitory,  in  which  he 
slept  with  other  patients,  under  some  pretext,  took  a  broom- 
handle  which  he  found  outside,  and  with  it  struck  a  patient  who 
was  sleeping  in  the  sixth  bed  from  his. 

The  neighbor  of  the  person  he  attacked,  awakened  by  the 
noise,  called  for  help;  D.  struck  at  him  until  he  hid  himself 
under  the  covering,  and  then  recommenced  his  assault  on  his 
first  victim.  The  attendants  hurried  in  and  seized  him  ;  he  al- 
lowed the  strait  waistcoat  to  be  put  on,  wept,  repented,  accused 
those  who  had  driven  him  to  it,  and  said  that  he  heard  voices, 
which  told  him  to  be  revenged,  as  some  one  wanted  to  kill  him  ; 
he  added  that  it  was  well  they  bound  him,  for  he  intended  to 
have  treated  two  or  three  others  in  the  same  way. 

After  this  fresh  murder,  he  became  calm,  slept  well,  and  ate 
well,  made  no  effort  to  rid  himself  of  the  strait  waistcoat,  wept 
frequently,  especially  when  reminded  of  his  actions  ;  turned 
red,  excused  himself,  and  accused  others.  It  was  remarked  that 
after  this  second  murder,  he  appeared  to  fear  the  punishment 
reserved  for  criminals. 

Such  are  the  facts  relative  to  the  accused.  They  may  easily 
be  classed  in  two  series  ;  the  one  would  induce  the  belief  that 
D.  was  sane  when  he  murdered  his  wife,  and  was  conscious  of 
having  committed  a  crime  when  he  fled  ;  the  other  would  seem 
to  prove  that  he  was  insane  when  he  committed  the  crime,  and 
that  even  during  his  flight  he  had  not  a  very  clear  perception 
of  the  position  in  which  he  had  placed  himself. 

First  class  of  facts. — On  the  3d  May,  1828,  D.  gave  no  signs 
of  delirium  nor  irritation  ;  and  retired  peaceably  to  rest  with 
his  wife.  These  circumstances  did  not  escape  the  witness  who 
had  passed  the  evening  of  the  3d  May  with  him  and  his  victim. 
After  the  murder,  D.  took  measures  to  avoid  the  pursuit  of  jus- 
tice. The  precautions  seemed  to  prove  a  consciousness  of  the 
crime  he  had  committed,  and  that  he  feared  the  punishment 
consequent  thereon.     In  the  different  interrogatories  which  he 


HALLUCINATIONS  IN  RELATION  TO  MEDICAL  JURISPRUDENCE.    517 

underwent,  he  appeared  to  have  his  reason  ;  and  also  during  his 
stay  in  Bicetre,  at  least  neither  his  words  nor  actions  resembled 
the  usual  ones  of  the  insane  patients.  The  numerous  letters 
which  he  wrote  proved  that  he  was  not  deprived  of  all  intellect. 

Seco7id  class  of  facts. — D.  had  a  maternal  uncle  who  was 
insane  ;  consequently,  he  was  predisposed  to  insanity.  He  had 
never  betrayed  any  perverse  inclination,  and  was  of  regular 
habits  until  the  close  of  1826,  when  suddenly  his  character  and 
habits  underwent  an  entire  alteration  ;  since  which  time,  he 
evinced  many  symptoms  of  madness.  The  derangement  of  his 
mind  was  verified  by  the  certificates  of  three  physicians  who 
attended  him,  and  by  public  notoriety.  D.  was  a  monomaniac, 
he  believed  that  he  had  enemies,  that  they  desired  to  be  rid  of 
him,  and  to  kill  him.  He  was  convinced  that  his  friends,  his 
father,  and  his  wife,  plotted  against  him.  His  delirium  was 
remittent,  and  increased  from  time  to  time. 

In  the  spring  of  1827,  he  had  attempted  suicide  in  order  to 
escape  the  conspiracies  of  his  pretended  enemies.  In  the  spring 
of  1828,  after  having  embraced  his  wife,  he  went  peaceably  to 
rest  with  her,  without  provocation  or  anger;  and  awakened  by 
some  distressing  dream,  or  by  his  imaginary  fears  (let  it  be  re- 
membered that  at  the  outset  of  his  disease  he  had  awakened 
with  a  start),  his  reason  wandered,  he  saw  in  his  wife,  lying  by 
his  side,  a  conspirator  ;  it  was  necessary  to  deliver  himself,  and 
he  struck  the  unfortunate  woman,  who  was  fast  asleep,  not  with 
any  instrument  of  death  that  was  within  the  house,  but  with  a 
mallet,  which  he  went  into  the  yard  to  fetch.  Far  from  flying 
instantly,  he  delayed  his  departure,  searched  in  the  wardrobe 
for  a  napkin,  with  which  he  covered  the  corpse  of  his  victim, 
and  placed  a  cross  upon  it.  But  then  his  fury  having  no  longer 
an  object,  the  sight  of  the  corpse  made  a  powerful  impression 
on  the  murderer  ;  the  delirium  ceased,  reason  awoke,  and  the 
unhappy  man  comprehended  all  the  horror  of  the  act  he  had 
committed,  foresaw  the  consequences,  fled,  and  endeavored  to 
escape  the  pursuit  of  justice. 

D.  experienced  that  which  has  been  noticed  in  many  insane 
persons,  namely,  that  after  a  violent  physical  or  moral  impres- 
sion, or  the  accomplishment  of  a  design  conceived  during  deli- 
rium, they  appear  to  recover  suddenly  the  use  of  their  reason, 
and  act  almost  if  not  quite  in  the  same  manner  as  if  they  had 


518  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

never  lost  it.     (Insane  persons  have  been  instantaneously  cured 
by  a  powerful  moral  impression.) 

Although  D.  took  great  precautions  in  his  flight,  he  neverthe- 
less left  traces  by  ^Yhich  he  could  be  recognized,  which  would 
not  have  been  done  by  a  man  with  the  full  use  of  his  reason,  nor 
by  one  who  considered  himself  a  criminal.  Thus,  although  he 
hid  his  blood-stained  clothing,  it  was  in  his  own  cellar  ;  and  al- 
though he  fled,  it  was  on  his  father's  horse.  He  left  articles  in 
an  inn  which  would  betray  him,  and  carried  letters  about  his 
person  which  convicted  him.  When  arrested,  he  gave  a  detailed 
account  of  the  murder  ;  and  gave  several  reasons  for  it,  which 
were  evidently  false.  In  prison  and  in  the  hospital,  the  letters 
which  he  wrote  bore  the  impress  of  a  disordered  mind.  In  the 
following  year,  the  spring  of  1^29,  he  became  restless,  and  ap- 
peared to  have  hallucinations  ;  four  days  afterwards,  he  went 
quietly  to  bed,  and  during  the  night  killed  one  of  the  patients, 
not  with  any  instruments  at  hand  in  the  dormitory,  but  with  a 
stick  which  he  fetched  from  another  room — not  after  a  quarrel, 
an  afiray,  or  a  fit  of  anger,  but  during  the  sleep  of  his  victim. 

From  the  identity  of  the  season  and  the  hour  in  which  the 
two  murders  were  committed,  the  choice  of  the  instruments  of 
death,  the  absence  of  all  anger  or  provocation,  the  sleep  of  the 
victims,  the  calm  state  of  the  murderer  during  the  nights  of  the 
3d  of  May,  1828,  and  the  18th  of  April,  1829— from  the  iden- 
tity, we  say,  of  the  circumstances,  we  draw  the  inference  that 
T>.  was  excited  to  commit  both  the  murders  by  the  delirium  to 
which  he  had  been  a  prey  since  the  close  of  1826,  and  that,  in 
the  commission  of  these  two  acts,  he  was  not  in  the  possession 
of  moral  liberty. 

We  think,  therefore,  that  hereditary  disposition,  the  conduct 
of  D.  during  his  stay  at  Bicêtre,  the  treatment  which  he  under- 
went for  insanity  before  the  3d  of  May,  1826,  the  report  of  the 
faculty  who  attended  him  before  that  period,  and  the  circum- 
stances attending  the  action  imputed  to  him,  prove  that  D.  was 
laboring  under  mental  alienation  when  he  committed  the  mur- 
der of  which  he  is  accused  ;  that  the  precautions  taken  by  him 
on  the  night  of  the  3d  of  May,  1828,  and  since  that  time,  to 
elude  the  pursuit  of  justice,  also  prove  that  the  criminal  had  not 
the  right  use  of  his  reason,  and  is  accordant  to  a  state  of  de- 
mentia, taking  that  word  in  the  sense  of  civil  law,  and  not  in 


HALLUCINATIONS  IN  RELATION  TO  MEDICAL  JURISPRUDENCE.     519 

that  accepted  by  the  faculty,  who  give  to  that  state  the  name  of 
monomania. 

Resolved  in  Paris,  the  6th  of  July,  1829. 

(Signed,)  Esquirol, 

Ferrus. 

An  extract  from  the  verdict  in  the  case  goes  to  show  that  the 
court,  after  deliberation,  consider  sufficient  proof  has  been  esta- 
blished, that  Jacques  Jean-Baptiste  D.  was  in  a  state  of  dementia 
on  the  night  between  the  3d  and  4th  of  May,  1826,  in  which 
the  action  imputed  to  him  was  committed,  and  that  thus,  accord- 
ing to  the  terms  84  of  the  penal  code,  there  is  neither  crime 
nor  offence,  and  that  no  farther  proceedings  can  be  instituted 
against  D.  The  court,  nevertheless,  orders  that  he  shall  be 
placed  at  the  disposal  of  the  King's  attorney,  who  will  take  ne- 
cessary measures  for  the  safety  of  the  public  and  of  the  accused. 

This  case,  which  we  have  given  in  all  its  details,  because  it 
appeared  an  excellent  type,  presents  to  us  a  fresh  example  of  the 
danger  of  hallucinations  and  illusions  in  melancholy  monomania. 
Daily  experience  proves  that  these  mad  persons  are  convinced 
they  receive  insults,  are  made  mouths  at,  that  the  countenances 
of  those  around  them  express  hate,  and  a  desire  to  harm  them; 
or  they  take  them  for  devils,  monsters,  etc.  It  is  evident  that, 
when  D.  killed  his  wife  and  the  insane  patient  by  his  side,  he 
obeyed  hallucinations  of  hearing,  and  probably  also  illusions, 
as  in  the  case  of  Soyez.  It  is  extremely  probable  that  these 
two  murders,  executed  at  long  intervals,  would  have  been  fol- 
lowed up  by  other  catastrophes,  if  the  most  rigorous  confine- 
ment had  not  been  maintained. 

Galigna7ii  s  llessenger  published  the  following  case: — 

Case  CLXXI.  On  the  25th  of  November,  1840,  Dr.  Pearce, 
author  of  several  estimable  medical  works,  was  cited  before  the 
central  criminal  court  for  having  fired  at  his  wife  with  intent  to 
kill  her,  and  was  acquitted  on  a  plea  of  insanity.  He  was  sent 
to  Bedlam,  where  he  has  since  remained,  his  fixed  idea  being 
that  his  wife  desired  his  death,  and  had  paid  several  persons  to 
destroy  him  in  some  way  or  other,  but  chiefly,  by  always  giving 
him  a  damp  or  wet  bed.  For  some  time  he  obstinately  refused 
to  quit  the  gallery  in  which  his  cell  was  situated. 

In  a  letter,  which  he  addressed  to  the  manager  of  the  hos- 


520  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

pital,  Pearce  rested  his  opinion  on  apparently  very  logical  rea- 
soning: "If,"  said  he,  alluding  to  the  deposition  of  some  of 
the  witnesses,  who  stated  that,  at  different  times,  they  had  felt 
his  bed  and  had  found  it  perfectly  dry,  "the  simple  act  of  putting 
the  hand  on  a  damp  bed,  or  even  the  impression  Avhich  a  man 
may  receive  on  lying  down,  be  infallible,  how  does  it  happen  that 
travellers  are  so  often  crippled  with  rheumatism,  or  lose  their 
lives  from  having  passed  the  night  in  damp  sheets?  In  truth, 
the  injury  of  which  I  complain  is  no  illusion  ;  it  is  a  real  fact, 
susceptible  of  proof,  if  my  own  evidence  could  be  received, 
instead  of  being  distorted  by  the  falsehood  of  those  in  whose 
power  I  am.  Assuredly,  I  should  grossly  deceive  myself,  if  ^I 
affirmed  that  my  bed  is  of  straw,  instead  of  wool  ;  or  if  I  pro- 
fessed to  be  a  prophet,  the  pope,  or  Sir  Astlcy  Cooper;  but  I 
do  not  believe  in  such  nonsense.  My  mind  is  healthy,  calm, 
and  capabje  of  reflection,  and  I  entreat  you  to  distinguish 
between  things  impossible  and  those  which  are  real.  It  is 
an  all-important  point  in  my  unhappy  position.  It  will  perhaps 
be  said  that  I  have  elsewhere  accused  persons  of  wetting  my 
bed;  it  is  true.  In  the  insane  asylum  at  Uxbridge,  from  whence 
I  was  brought  here,  my  bed  was  almost  constantly  wet  during 
three  months,  and  I  should  have  died,  had  I  not  taken  the  pre- 
caution to  sleep  on  a  large  chest,  which  is  now  placed  in  the 
wareroom  of  the  hospital,  and  in  which  I  kept  my  clothing. 
Frequently,  at  this  period,  the  thermometer  was  at  eight  and 
ten  degrees  below  zero." 

In  this  letter.  Dr.  Pearce  desii'ed  to  have  a  lock  to  his  cell,  in 
order  to  prevent  this  continual  exhibition  of  ill-will  ;  and  it 
closed  with  these  lines  :  "  I  implore  you  to  have  pity  on  my 
miserable  condition.  I  have  had  some  right  to  the  title  of  gentle- 
man, and  have  enjoyed  the  esteem  of  highly  estimable  persons. 
I  am  now,  by  a  train  of  unhappy  circumstances,  imprisoned  in 
a  large  hospital  ;  torn  from  wife,  children,  and  the  comforts  of 
social  life,  constrained  to  live  with  enemies  suborned  by  the 
state,  with  beggars,  and  with  madmen." 

On  being  brought  before  the  Committee  appointed  to  examine 
the  case,  Dr.  Pearce  replied  very  rationally  to  the  questions 
which  were  addressed  to  him.  He  declared  that,  since  his  mar- 
riage, which  took  place  at  Boulogne,  he  had  been  constantly  ill- 
treated  by  his  wife  ;  and  that,  on  one  occasion,  she  had  struck 


HALLUCINATIONS  IN  RELATION  TO  MEDICAL  JURISPRUDENCE.    521 

him.  He  complained  of  having  been,  against  his  inclination,  an 
accomplice  of  Oxford,  the  assassin  of  the  queen,  to  whom,  how- 
ever, he  had  taught  French,  and  whose  mind  he  had  attempted 
to  soften.  Oxford  had  revealed  to  him  particulars  of  great 
importance  relative  to  the  crime  he  had  committed,  which  he, 
Pearce,  thought  it  his  duty  to  communicate  to  the  Secretary  of 
State.  With  this  view,  he  had  written,  in  Latin,  a  letter  con- 
taining all  the  details;  unhappily,  it  had  been  taken  from  him, 
and  he  did  not  know  if  it  had  reached  the  office  in  Downing 
Street.  He  also  desired  to  make  known  how  Oxford  boasted 
of  having  deceived  Sir  A.  Morrison,  Dr.  Monroe,  and  the  jury 
in  persuading  them  that  he  was  insane. 

Dr.  Pearce  added  that  this  was  what  he  wished  to  reveal  to 
the  Secretary  of  State.  His  letter  was  produced  against  him. 
The  jury  then  proceeded  in  his  examination.  He  persisted  in 
saying  his  bed  was  wet,  that  deleterious  substances  jrere  intro- 
duced into  his  clothes,  and  that  a  conspiracy  existed  against 
him.  He  drew  from  his  pocket  a  small  packet,  which  contained 
a  piece  of  one  of  his  shirts,  and  a  snuffbox  which  also  contained 
some  other  fragments  ;  these  he  desired  should  be  given  to  Pro- 
fessor Faraday,  or  some  other  celebrated  chemist,  to  be  analyzed. 
The  jury  decided  that  Dr.  Pearce  was  deranged,  and  had  been 
so  since  the  month  of  October,  1840  (Britannia.)* 

If  we  were  not  fearful  of  multiplying  cases  of  this  character, 
we  could  relate  the  history  of  MacNaghten,  the  assassin  of 
Mr.  Drummond,  who  was  also  persuaded  that  he  was  surrounded 
by  evil-disposed  persons  who  threatened  him,  and  that  he  was 
surrounded  by  strange  faces. f 

It  appears  very  probable  that  great  political  assassinations 
have  been  committed  by  hallucinated  persons,  and  that  in  many 
cases,  the  impassibility  of  these  persons  under  punishment  has 
been  the  result  of  the  diseased  state  of  their  minds,  and  of 
ana3sthesia,  so  common  amongst  melancholy  monomaniacs. 

M.  Bazin  relates,  in  his  Histoire  de  la  Fronde,  the  assertion 
which  Ravaillac  made  on  his  examination,  that,  some  days  prior 

*  Galignani's  Messenger,  27th  December,  1843. 

t  In  a  visit  made  in  1850  to  Bedlam,  MacNaghten  was  found  in  a  state 
of  imbecility,  in  the  section  of  insane  criminals.  (The  American  Journal 
of  Insanity,  April,  1851,  p.  354.) 


522  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

to  the  execution  of  his  crime,  his  feet  gave  forth  exhalations  of 
sulphur  and  flame,  thus  pointing  out  to  him  the  purgatory  of 
■which  heretics  were  worthy.  On  another  occasion,  he  felt 
something  springing  about  over  his  body.  Several  days  before 
the  consummation  of  the  crime,  he  saw  victims  raised  up  into 
the  air,  and  placed  on  either  side  of  him.  Finally,  he  added, 
that  having  seen  the  head  of  a  Moor  on  a  statue  in  a  certain 
town,  he  had  requested  a  painter  to  paint  it  for  him,  but  that 
he  found  the  head  itself  at  the  house  of  the  artist,  by  which  he 
concluded  that  Henry  IV.  was  as  black  as  a  devil,  that  he  could 
not  be  cleansed  from  his  sins,  and  was  damned  eternally.* 

Historical  documents  prove  that  Jacques  Clement  must  be 
ranked  with  hallucinated  madmen. 

"Being  one  night  in  bed,  God  sent  his  angel  to  him  in  a 
vision,  Avho  appeared  in  a  blaze  of  light  ;  and  who,  showing  him  a 
naked  sward  said:  'Brother  Jacques,  I  am  the  messenger  of 
the  Most  High,  come  to  certify  that  through  you  the  tyrant  of 
Trance  must  come  by  his  death.  Prepare  yourself,  then,  for 
the  crown  of  martyrdom  will  also  be  yours.'  Having  said  this, 
the  vision  disappeared  and  left  him  to  his  meditations.  In  the 
morning,  Brother  Jacques  reconsidered  the  apparition,  and 
doubtful  as  to  how  he  should  act,  consulted  a  friend,  who  was 
also  a  priest  (Father  Bourgoing,  prior  of  his  convent),  a  scien- 
tific man,  and  one  well  versed  in  Holy  Writ,  to  whom  he  can- 
didly declared  his  vision,  and  inquired  if  it  was  unpleasing  to 
God  to  kill  a  king  who  had  neither  faith  nor  religion. "f 

It  is  distressing  to  think  how  many  persons  have  been  sacri- 
ficed by  similar  madmen. 

The  young  German  Avho  attempted  to  assassinate  Napoleon 
at  Schoenbrunn  also  had  visions.  He  saw  the  genius  of  Germany, 
who  told  him  to  deliver  his  country.  The  outrages  committed 
by  hallucinated  madmen  are  sometimes  the  result  of  a  command 
which  is  given  to  them,  or  of  a  voice  which  speaks  to  them. 

M.  Bottex  relates,  in  his  3ïemoirs,  that  there  was,  some  years 

*  Bazin,  Histoire  de  la  Fronde,  Procès,  Examen,  Confessions,  et  Néga- 
tions du  méchant  et  execrable  parricide  François  Ravaillac,  sur  la  mort  de 
Henri  le  Grand,  anonymous  pamphlet,  Paris,  1611,  12mo.  p.  35,  etc. 

t  Discours  Veritable,  fait  par  un  Jacobin  sur  la  mort  de  Henry  III.  This 
paper,  printed  at  ïroyes,  in  1589,  is  found  in  the  Journal  de  Henri  III.,  by 
Pierre  de  I'Estoile.     La  Haye  in-12  Ï.,  t.  iii.  p.  455. 


HALLUCINATIONS  IN  RELATION  TO  MEDICAL  JURISPRUDENCE.     523 

since,  in  the  hospital  of  Antiquaille,  at  Lyons,  a  hypochondriac 
attacked  by  hallucinations,  who  strangled  his  daughter  in  obe- 
dience to  voices  which  commanded  him  to  stop  her  breath. 

We  read  the  following  in  the  Journal  d'Huf eland  :  "A 
Prussian  peasant  imagined  that  he  both  saw  and  heard  an  angel, 
who  commanded  him,  in  the  name  of  God,  to  immolate  his  son 
on  a  funeral  pile.  He  immediately  ordered  the  boy  to  carry 
wood  to  a  certain  spot  which  he  pointed  out.  The  son  obeyed  ; 
his  father  laid  him  on  the  Avood,  and  instantly  killed  him.  He 
was  his  only  son." 

Hallucination  is  sometimes  the  predisposing  cause  of  a  culpa- 
ble action,  the  accomplishment  of  which  is  the  result  of  an 
illusion. 

Case  CLXXII.  Amongst  the  theological  students  in  the  Uni- 
versity of  Leipsic,  was  one  named  Rau,  who  became  deeply  in- 
terested in  the  study  of  the  Apocalypse  of  St.  John.  The 
perusal  of  these  revelations  so  inflamed  his  mind  that  he  enter- 
tained the  idea  of  reproducing  these  celestial  visions.  He  soon 
believed  himself  inspired,  and  thought  he  had  communications 
with  God.  His  duties  were  neglected;  he  became  passionate 
and  morose.  He  considered  himself  superior  to  the  rest  of 
mankind.  Full  of  this  idea,  he  took  to  preaching,  and  expressed 
himself  in  the  following  terms:  "He  who  does  not  believe  in 
sorcerers,  does  not  believe  in  the  devil  ;  he  who  does  not  believe 
in  the  devil,  does  not  believe  in  God  ;  he  who  does  not  believe 
in  God,  shall  be  damned." 

On  the  4th  of  August,  1799,  his  neighbors  hearing  a  noise, 
broke  into  his  apartment,  where  they  found  his  father  in  a  pool 
of  blood,  pierced  with  fifteen  wounds,  and  with  a  large  gash  in 
his  throat.  Rau  was  striding  up  and  down  the  room,  now  ac- 
cusing himself  of  having  committed  this  horrible  crime,  and  then 
pretending  that  his  father  was  an  old  Jew,  who  had  been  killed 
by  a  Turk. 

During  his  trial,  he  said  he  had  never  been  baptized  ;  that  the 
man  whom  he  had  killed  was  not  his  father,  since  he  did  not 
resemble  him.  His  conduct  was  unseemly  and  rude,  and  he 
evinced  the  greatest  contempt  for  all  mankind.  During  a  vio- 
lent storm  he  was  heard  to  exclaim  :  "  Here  comes  the  savage 
prince  !  I  know  him  well,  for  I  have  often  heard  him." 

Here  is  a  case,  in  which  the  hallucinated  person  commits  a 


524  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

murder  under  the  influence  of  an  illusion,  two  phenomena  which 
are  often  found  in  combination.* 

Resolutions  and  actions  into  which  individuals  are  drawn  hy 
hallucinations,  are  sometimes  produced  suddenly.  Darkness, 
night,  and  particularly  sleep,  have  frequently  appeared  to  favor 
these  instantaneous  paroxysms.  In  some  circumstances,  the 
crime  has  been  committed  Avithout  any  previous  delirium. 

Case  CLXXIII.  On  the  1st  of  January,  1843,  a  young  man 
requested  a  night's  lodging  in  an  inn,  at  Bully,  near  Lyons, 
kept  by  a  man  of  the  name  of  Blanc.  Having  supped,  and 
drank  a  glass  of  wine,  offered  to  him  free  of  charge  by  his  host, 
he  was  ushered  to  the  room  which  had  been  prepared  for  him. 
There  was  nothing  in  the  manner  of  the  individual  to  attract 
particular  attention,  or  in  his  conduct  to  betray  a  sinister  pre- 
occupation. 

Two  hours  afterwards,  about  ten  at  night,  the  landlord  heard 
a  noise  which  proceeded  from  the  stranger's  room.  He  took  a 
light  in  order  to  ascertain  the  cause.  Scarcely  had  he  entered 
the  room,  than  the  traveller,  without  speaking  a  word,  sprang  on 
him  and  struck  him  with  the  blade  of  a  pair  of  tailors'  shears. 
The  cries  of  the  innkeeper  brought  assistance,  and  the  murderer 
was  seized  and  disarmed.  At  length,  the  gendarmes  arrived, 
and  secured  the  desperate  fellow.  Happily,  the  weapon  which 
he  used  had  only  made  slight  wounds. 

On  being  interrogated  as  to  the  motives  of  his  crime,  he  re- 
plied :  "  I  found  that  a  plot  had  been  laid  in  the  house  for  my 
assassination,  and  I  took  measures  to  sell  my  life  dearly." 

The  name  of  the  man  was  Alphonse  Terry,  a  journeyman 
tailor,  who  was  on  his  way  to  Bois  d'Oingt  (Rhone)  in  search  of 
work  ;  his  age  was  twenty-eight. 

Transferred  to  the  prison  of  the  Palais  de  Justice  in  Lyons, 
he  was  entered  on  the  jailer's  books,  and  impeached  for  cutting 
and  slaying.  During  his  journey  and  his  subsequent  detention 
in  prison,  he  was  perfectly  calm  ;  nor  did  he  betray,  in  his  con- 
versation with  his  jailer  and  companions,  the  least  symptom  of 
dementia  ;  on  the  contrary,  he  exhibited  great  clearness  of 
intellect.     On  the   5th  of  January,   he  was  brought  before  a 

*Magazin  Psychologique,  vol.  viii.,  communicated  by  Professor  Gruner, 
of  the  Dniversity  of  Jena. 


HALLUCINATIONS  IN  RELATION  TO  MEDICAL  JURISPRUDENCE.     525 

magistrate.  We  think  it  right  to  give  his  different  replies  to 
the  interrogatories  : — 

D.  "Why  did  you  ill-treat  the  master  of  the  inn  at  Bully?" 

R.  "Whilst  I  was  at  supper,  the  innkeeper  took  a  large  knife 
and  passed  into  an  alcove  belonging  to  the  tavern.  On  coming 
out,  he  said:  'There  is  one  disposed  of!'  Another  man  entered 
a  second  alcove  at  the  foot  of  the  staircase,  whom  he  followed, 
and  also  killed,  saying  the  same  words.  He  then  offered  me 
a  glass  of  red  wine,  which  I  accepted.  There  were  women 
present  whom  he  induced  to  drink  white  wine.  I  then  went  to 
bed.  From  my  room,  which  was  over  the  tavern,  I  heard  a  plot 
made  to  assassinate  me.  I  then  resolved  to  sell  my  life  dearly. 
I  placed  myself  near  to  the  door,  with  my  scissors  in  my  hand, 
and  when  he  entered  my  room  I  defended  myself." 

D.  "In  what  manner  and  by  what  words  did  you  comprehend 
that  you  were  to  be  assassinated?" 

R.  "  They  knew  that  I  had  seen  them  murder  the  two  other 
travellers,  and  I  heard  them  consult  together  ;  the  one  said  :  '  He 
saw  us  kill  them.'  The  other  replied  :  'He  saw  nothing  ;  let  us 
leave  him  alone.'  The  first  continued:  'I  tell  you  that  he  did 
see  it,  and  we  must  assassinate  him  ;  we  shall  be  safer.'  The 
first  then  said:  'Go   up.'     The  other   replied:  'No;  go  you 

up-'  " 

On  the  day  following,  two  physicians,  Messrs.  Chapeau  and 

Tavernier,  were  commissioned  by  the  magistrate  to  report  as  to 

the  mental  condition  of  the  criminal. 

In  all  the  interrogatories  to  which  he  was  subjected,  this  man 
evinced  good  sense  and  judgment.  He  again  narrated  all 
he  had  seen^  heard,  and  felt  in  the  inn  at  Bully.  His  recital 
was  that  of  a  man  fully  convinced  and  free  from  passion,  and 
who  congratulated  himself  on  having  escaped  a  great  danger. 

The  experienced  physicians  to  whom  the  examination  of 
Alphonso  Terry  was  confided,  gave  in  their  report,  which  was 
forwarded  to  the  authorities.  Whatever  may  have  been  the 
result  and  issue  of  the  trial,  we  cannot  but  shudder  at  the 
frightful  position  of  the  accused,  and  of  the  impossibility  of 
legally  justifying  him,  had  he  by  chance  had  any  cause  of  dis- 
like to  the  inkeeper,  any  dispute  with  him  relative  to  the  price 
of  his  repast,  or,  finally,  had  it  been  possible  to  believe  in  any 
intention  of  his  to  commit  robbery. 


526  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

The  curious  account  which  Brillât  Savarin  has  given,  in  his 
Physiologie  du  G-out,  incontestably  proves  that  nocturnal  hallu- 
cination may  be  the  occasion  of  a  crime.  The  assassination  of 
the  woman  Schon,  which  we  have  elsewhere  related,  is  a  fresh 
proof  of  it. 

It  is,  then,  with  much  reason  that  Marc  speaks  of  the  state  of 
sleeping  as  demanding  especial  attention  in  the  medico-legal 
examination  of  insanity.  In  fact,  in  the  greater  number  of 
maniacs,  sleep  is  disturbed  and  agitated  by  visions,  great  panic, 
groanings,  and  vociferations.  Even  with  those  monomaniacs 
who  are  governed  by  gay  and  exciting  ideas,  sleep  is  restless 
and  difficult  to  obtain,  because  they  are  a  prey  to  hallucinations, 
which  in  general  are  more  distinct  and  frequent  in  the  night 
than  during  the  day,  and  because,  in  the  darkness  and  silence  of 
night,  their  fantastic  imaginations  yield  more  readily  to  those 
conceptions  to  which  their  delirium  gives  birth. 

The  suddenness  of  hallucinations  is  sufficiently  established 
by  the  fact  which  we  have  just  related;  the  annals  of  science 
contain  many  other  examples.  When  they  give  rise  only  to 
extravagant  actions,  they  attract  but  little  attention  ;  they  pass 
unnoticed,  or  are  concealed  in  private  asylums.  But  when  a 
crime  is  the  consequence,  it  behoves  us  not  to  decide  hastily; 
every  particular,  which  can  throw  light  on  the  subject,  should 
be  carefully  collected.  This  species  of  hallucinations  resembles 
homicidal  monomania,  which  appears  suddenly,  without  being 
announced  by  any  prior  derangement  of  mind.  A  knowledge 
of  antecedents  can  often  point  out  the  track  of  madness.  When 
extravagances,  whimsicalities,  and  eccentricities  have  already 
intimated  a  defective  intellect,  suspicion  becomes  more  conclu- 
sive, if,  at  some  former  period,  a  strange  or  unaccountable 
action  is  discovered  to  have  taken  place.  An  inquiry  as  to 
inherited  disease  is,  under  such  circumstances,  very  useful.  The 
motives  for  actions,  and  the  replies  of  the  individual  accused, 
should  undergo  severe  scrutiny.  When  he  answers  that  he 
obeyed  a  voice,  was  irritated  by  insults,  or  desired  to  be  re- 
venged for  persecutions  heaped  upon  him  ;  when  it  is  ascer- 
tained if  his  victim  were  unknown  to,  or  on  good  terms  with 
him,  or  that  no  sort  of  connection  can  be  discovered  between 
them,  the  presumptions  are  still  more  important.     Nor  must 


HALLUCINATIONS  IN  RELATION  TO  MEDICAL  JURISPRUDENCE.     527 

written  correspondence  be  neglected,  which  often   throws  great 
light  on  an  action  apparently  incomprehensible. 

A  single  hallucination,  which  has  appeared  suddenly,  exhibits 
symptoms  evident  to  the  experienced  observer.  There  is  some- 
thing in  the  words,  gestures,  and  actions — brief,  abrupt,  and 
unpsual,  which  proves  that  the  individual  is  not  in  a  normal 
condition.  There  will  be  a  derangement  of  almost  all  the  func- 
tions. These  collective  facts  evince  the  difficulty  of  feigning 
hallucinations. 

If  any  doubt,  however,  should  exist,  solitary  confinement 
must  be  practised,  the  result  of  which,  most  usually,  is  that 
evident  symptoms  of  insanity  exhibiting  themselves  sooner  or 
later,  all  uncertainty  is  dispelled. 

Hallucinations  not  only  induce  suicide  and  murder,  but  they 
may  also  lead  to  theft  and  incendiarism. 

Case  CLXXIV.  Jonathan  Martin,  that  modern  Erostratus, 
who  burned  York  Minster,  said  to  the  examining  judge: 
"Your  accusation  of  theft  is  devoid  of  common  sense,  and  you 
had  better  give  it  up  ;  I  never  intended  to  purloin  anything  ; 
but,  having  received  intimation  from  an  angel  that  it  was  the 
will  of  God  I  should  set  fire  to  the  cathedral,  it  was  necessary 
to  supply  myself  with  evidence  that  I  alone  committed  the  act, 
in  order  that  I  should  have  the  honor,  or,  if  you  prefer  the  ex- 
pression, the  odium  of  the  deed."  Jonathan  Martin,  being 
declared  a  lunatic,  was  confined  in  Bedlam,  where  he  still 
remains. 

Case  CLXXV.  A  girl,  named  Grabowska,  under  fifteen  years 
of  age,  suffering  from  nostalgia,  set  fire  in  two  instances  to  a 
house,  in  order  that  she  might  quit  her  masters.  She  declared 
that,  from  the  moment  she  entered  their  service,  she  was  tor- 
mented with  a  desire  of  incendiarism.  It  appeared  to  her  that 
a  spirit  was  always  present  with  her,  urging  the  deed.  It  was 
discovered  that  the  girl  had  for  a  length  of  time  suffered  from 
violent  headache,  and  a  delay  in  the  physical  changes  usual 
to  females  of  that  age.* 

Case  CLXXVI.  A  man,  about  thirty  years  old,  was  brought 
to  my  establishment,  under  a  suspicion  of  feigning  insanity. 

*  Marc,  Mémoires  sur  la  Pyromanie,  t.  ii.  p.  35G.  Des  monomanos — 
Klein,  vol.  ix.  Annales  Judiciaires. 


528  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

There  was  a  deficit  of  several  thousand  francs  in  the  house  of 
business  in  which  he  was  engaged,  of  which  he  either  would  not 
or  could  not  give  any  account.  In  three  hours  after  his  arrival, 
he  threw  a  whole  set  of  chimney-ornaments  into  the  fire.  The 
superintendent  asked  him  why  he  committed  so  unreasonable  an 
act.  For  some  time  he  made  no  reply,  but,  at  length,  in  a  low 
and  mysterious  voice,  he  said:  "He  ordered  me  to  do  it."  From 
that  time,  it  was  impossible  to  draw  from  him  another  word; 
and  he  soon  fell  into  complete  dementia. 

We  have  shown  how  often  hallucinations  are  combined  with 
illusions  which  may,  in  their  turn,  be  the  occasions  of  instinctive 
decisions  of  the  highest  importance.  A  knowledge  of  cases,  in 
which  the  existence  of  mental  alienation  was  undoubted,  would 
serve  as  guides  in  analogous  cases,  which,  not  having  been 
before  recognized,  or  occurring  suddenly,  might  perplex  both 
physicians  and  lawyers. 

The  doctor  mentioned  by  Esquirol,  who  nearly  died  from  the 
effects  of  bleeding,  without  any  modification  either  of  his  insanity 
or  hallucinations,  believed  that  he  one  day  saw  one  of  the  keep- 
ers paying  court  to  his  wife,  and  rushing  upon  him,  wounded 
him  severely. 

Case  CLXXVII.  Madame  B.,  highly  educated,  but  very  ro- 
mantic and  excitable,  was  married  at  twenty  years  of  age.  This 
union  appeared  happy  for  a  very  long  time.  But  as  a  critical 
time  of  life  approached,  her  mind  evinced  derangement  of  a  very 
remarkable  character.  She  imagined  that  her  husband  had  sold 
her,  and  that  she  was  dishonored  in  his  sight.  Her  religious 
ideas  became  exceedingly  developed  ;  she  believed  herself  in 
communication  with  heavenly  intelligences,  heard  divine  voices, 
and  received  revelations  from  the  Deity.  At  this  time,  she 
conceived  a  hatred  of  her  husband,  which  constantly  increased. 
She  incessantly  spoke  of  doing  him  some  violence.  Her  sister 
frequently  remonstrated  with  her  on  the  subject  ;  and  being  one 
day  more  than  usually  importunate,  Madame  H.  seized  her  by 
the  throat,  and  endeavored  to  strangle  and  throw  her  from  the 
window. 

After  this  paroxysm,  she  passed  a  month  in  the  establishment 
of  Dr.  Pressât  ;  and  although,  when  removed,  her  conversation 
was  rational,  she  was  still  under  much  religious  excitement.  She 
was  continually  in  the  churches,  where  she  seemed  to  see  mar- 


HALLUCINATIONS  IN  RELATION  TO  MEDICAL  JURISPRUDENCE.    529 

vellous  things.  Still,  at  home,  she  appeared  tolerably  calm  ; 
but  her  husband,  who  felt  uneasy,  locked  himself  every  night 
in  his  room.  One  night  he  heard  a  gentle  tap  at  his  door  ;  he 
immediately  arose,  and  inquired  who  was  there,  but  received  no 
reply.  Half  an  hour  after,  he  again  heard  a  knock,  and  this 
time  his  question  was  answered  by  his  wife,  who  said,  in  a  com- 
plaining voice,:  "  My  dear,  I  am  ill,  and  am  come  to  ask  your 
assistance."  The  husband  opened  his  door,  and  Madame  H. 
instantly  struck  him  five  blows  on  the  head  with  an  iron  bar. 
With  the  energy  of  despair  he  pushed  her  out,  fastened  the  door, 
and  fell,  covered  with  blood. 

On  the  following  day,  Madame  H.  was  taken  back  to  the  es- 
tablishment where  she  had  previously  been.  In  a  few  days  she 
became  more  calm,  and  said  she  could  only  explain  the  act  by 
an  aberration  of  mind.  "  I  imagined,"  she  said,  "that  my  hus- 
band was  metamorphosed  into  a  demon,  and  I  looked  on  him 
with  horror." 

Some  months  subsequently,  this  lady  was  removed  to  my 
establishment  in  the  Rue  Neuve  Sainte-Geneviève.  She  was 
then  very  tranquil.  Her  conversation  was  rational  and  ani- 
mated, but  her  antipathy  to  her  husband  continued. 

Her  sister,  who  had  so  narrow  an  escape  from  being  her  first 
victim,  came  often  to  see  her  ;  she  loved  her  much,  and  expected 
her  visits  with  impatience.  When  I  was  interrogating  her  on 
the  insane  attempt  she  had  one  day  made  on  the  life  of  this  sis- 
ter, she  said  :  "  How  could  I  help  it  ? — when  I  sprang  upon  her, 
she  appeared  to  me  a  green  and  hideous  corpse,  whose  looks  were 
diabolical  ;  the  sight  filled  me  with  so  much  horror  that  I  wished 
to  get  rid  of  it  in  any  way."  These  reasons  were  similar  to 
those  which  induced  her  to  strike  her  husband. 

This  lady,  who,  during  her  residence  with  me  passed  her  days 
and  evenings  with  my  family,  was  attacked  several  times  with 
hallucinations  and  illusions.  Notwithstanding  her  style  of  life, 
and  the  apparent  sanity  of  her  conversation,  her  looks  were  at 
times  so  malicious  that  I  forbade  any  but  the  regular  attendants 
to  enter  her  room.  When  tormented  by  illusions,  she  uttered 
deadly  threats,  against  which  we  took  precautions  by  locking 
her  up  in  her  own  chamber. 

Examples  of  this  kind  cannot  be  too  carefully  studied,  for 
they  may  be  the  cause  of  ill-founded  censures,  and  of  interpre- 
34 


530  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

tations  the  most  opposed  to  truth — so  deceitful  are  appearances  ! 
Such,  in  fact,  was  the  case  in  an  event  which  was  thus  reported 
in  the  Bulletin  des  Tribunaux: — 

"  We  related  in  our  paper  of  the  9th  of  July,  1843,  an  at- 
tempted assassination,  wrapped  in  mystery,  which  occurred  on 
the  Place  du  Palais-Royal.  A  young  journeyman  goldsmith, 
named  Garnier,  was  passing  the  spot  about  nine  o'clock,  a  few 
paces  only  from  the  quarters  of  the  municipal  guard,  when  he 
heard  the  report  of  a  gun.  Garnier  thought  that  aim  had  been 
taken  at  an  officer  who  was  then  passing  by,  but  he  had  scarcely 
addressed  him,  than  he  himself  fell  senseless.  Although  at  the 
moment  he  was  only  conscious  of  a  severe  shock,  a  ball  had, 
nevertheless,  entered  deeply  into  his  abdomen. 

"  The  author  of  this  crime,  however,  escaped  all  the  researches 
of  the  police.  Garnier,  whose  wound  happily  was  not  mortal, 
declared  that  he  had  not  had  any  quarrel,  nor  was  he  conscious 
of  having  an  enemy.  Three  weeks  elapsed  without  any  disco- 
very being  made,  when  a  fortuitous  circumstance  put  the  police 
at  length  on  .the  track  of  the  supposed  culprits.  Writs  were 
issued  against  them,  and  the  day  before  yesterday  a  police  officer, 
accompanied  by  several  constables,  arrested  Raphael  C.  de  G., 
aged  twenty-seven,  born  at  Palma,  and  residing  in  Paris,  Rue 
Saint  Thomas-du-Louve,  No.  15,  and  Otto  Fischer,  a  Prussian, 
in  his  service.  Rue  du  Jour,  No.  8. 

"  G.  made  a  desperate  resistance.  Such  was  his  fury,  that, 
although  he  had  no  time  to  seize  his  arms,  four  strong  men  were 
required  to  secure  him,  which  they  could  only  do  by  binding 
his  lîinbs  strongly  with  ropes.  A  number  of  loaded  pistols, 
sword  sticks,  three  daggers,  balls,  powder,  etc.,  were  found  in 
his  apartments. 

"When  the  frenzy  of  this  man  was  somewhat  calmed,  he  said 
that  he  was  the  sole  author  of  the  crime,  and  that  they  had 
done  wrong  to  arrest  Otto  Fischer.  He  professed  to  have  been 
grossly  insulted  by  Garnier,  and  desired  revenge  ;  but  there  is 
reason  to  believe  that  G.  has  some  interest  in  concealing  the 
truth,  and  that  the  blow  which  reached  the  unfortunate  Garnier 
was  intended  for  some  one  else.    The  examination  is  going  on."* 

On  perusing  this  article,  would  not  the  conclusion  be  natural 

*  Bulletin  des  Tribunaux,  1st  August,  1843. 


HALLUCINATIONS  IN  RELATION  TO  MEDICAL  JURISPRUDENCE.    531 

that  M.  de  G.  was  a  great  criminal,  who  could  only  expect  to  be 
placed  on  the  bench  at  the  court  of  assize  ?  Let  us  examine 
how  matters  really  were.  He  had  scarcely  passed  his  examina- 
tion before  doubts  arose  in  the  minds  of  the  magistrates  as  to  the 
soundness  of  his  mind.  Dr.  Brun,  in  conjunction  with  another 
physician,  was  commissioned  to  report  on  his  mental  condition. 
The  conclusions  were  such  that  he  was  placed  at  the  disposal  of 
the  administrative  authorities,  who  sent  him  to  Bicetre. 

The  feeling  produced  by  a  detention  in  this  hospital  on  a 
man  of  high  rank  and  fortune  was  such  that  on  several  occa- 
sions he  attempted  to  starve  himself. 

xlfter  a  short  stay  there,  he  was  transferred  to  my  establish- 
ment. The  first  impression  was  highly  in  his  favor.  Well- 
made,  handsome,  with  a  pleasant  smile,  eyes  black,  and,  like 
most  Spaniards,  very  expressive,  with  courteous  manners,  he 
could  not  be  otherwise  than  interesting.  Having  left  him  some 
days  in  tranquillity,  I  at  length  questioned  him  as  to  the  events 
which  had  occurred. 

"  Such  as  you  see  me,  sir,"  he  said,  "I  am  the  most  miserable 
of  men.  For  many  years  past,  a  vast  conspiracy  has  been 
organized  against  me  in  my  own  country  ;  the  whole  city  of 
Palma  has  plotted  my  ruin  ;  relations,  friends,  citizens,  are  in 
league  to  destroy  me  ;  they  insult  me,  lay  snares,  pursue  me, 
point  at  me,  etc. 

"In  order  to  escape  from  this  persecution,  I  took  refuge  in 
France,  where  I  claimed  the  protection  of  the  police  ;  but  I 
soon  found  that  they  were  suborned  and  bought  by  my  enemies. 
For  several  days  they  had  given  me  no  rest.  Furious  and  out 
of  patience  at  such  conduct,  I  fired  on  one  of  them,  who  had 
not  ceased  insulting  and  making  grimaces  at  me." 

"  Then  you  know  the  man  ?"  I  inquired. 

"I  had  never  seen  him."  "Permit  me  to  observe  that  your 
reply  seems  very  extraordinary."  "  There  it  is  ;  they  want  to 
make  me  pass  for  a"madman  ;  but  I  insist  on  it,  I  am  judge  of 
my  own  honor.  Whenever  I  am  insulted,  either  myself  or  my 
adversary  must  die." 

Some  time  afterwards,  he  desired  to  speak  to  me  privately. 
"Sir,"  said  he,  "  I  see  plainly  that  my  enemies  are  powerful; 
I  am  prepared  to  make  any  pecuniary  sacrifice  in  order  to  leave 
this  place.     Tell  me  what  sura  I  must  give  to  government."     I 


532  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

remarked  that  it  was  not  the  custom  in  France  to  make  a  man 
pay  for  his  freedom  ;  and  that,  in  all  probability,  he  would 
shortly  be  sent  home.  Three  months  passed  thus  ;  finally,  he 
was  confided  to  a  friend  who  had  been  sent  from  Spain  to  fetch 
him,  and  whom  I  cautioned  not  to  lose  sight  of  him  for  an  in- 
stant :  since,  if  he  continued  under  the  same  impressions,  some 
unfortunate  catastrophe  might  take  place. 

What  a  subject  for  reflection  is  such  a  case  ?  With  the 
exception  of  this  fixed  idea  that  he  had  enemies  who  insulted, 
made  grimaces,  and  sought  to  annoy  him,  although  he  had  never 
seen  them,  M.  de  G.  resembled  other  persons.  He  conversed 
delightfully  on  his  country  and  on  literature,  sang  well,  and  was 
a  good  artist.  He  carefully  avoided  all  allusion  to  the  circum- 
stances which  occasioned  his  confinement.  And  yet  this  man, 
who  amused  himself  all  day,  would  have  killed  the  first  man  he 
met  with,  under  the  false  impression  of  his  being  an  enemy. 

Amongst  the  numerous  cases  of  this  nature  given  in  the 
Gazette  des  Tribunaux,  we  must  not  omit  that  of  a  man  named 
Boutron,  living  in  the  Carrefour  Bassy,  who  was  always  com- 
plaining to  the  authorities  and  the  commissioner  of  his  "  quar- 
tier," that  he  was  incessantly  pursued  by  enemies,  and  con- 
stantly heard  voices,  which  threatened  and  insulted  him.  For 
six  months  he  continued  to  write  letters  on  the  subject. 

As  it  too  frequently  happens,  Boutron  imbibed  a  hatred  to  a 
certain  person  ;  his  porter  was  the  unhappy  victim  whom  he 
selected,  and  in  one  of  his  hallucinations  he  killed  him  by  several 
stabs  of  a  knife.  The  council  chamber  decided  that  he  was 
insane. 

Illusions  of  sleep  may  occasion  strange,  reprehensible,  and 
dangerous  actions,  if,  like  hallucinations,  they  continue  at  the 
moment  of  awaking  and  even  afterwards.  We  have  frequently 
witnessed  very  extraordinary  scenes  which  have  only  been  the 
continuation  of  a  dream.  Individuals  who  have  spoken  and 
acted  under  this  influence,  might  have  been' taken  for  madmen  ; 
but  when  the  images  of  the  night  became  weaker  and  finally 
disappeared,  they  were  the  first  to  express  astonishment  at  the 
language  they  had  held,  although  they  assured  us  that  at  the 
time  their  sensations  appeared  perfectly  natural.  Men  of  great 
intrepidity  have,  under  this  impression,  exhibited  fear  in  situa- 
tions of  ordinary  danger,  which  this  fact  can  alone  explain. 


HALLUCINATIONS  IN  RELATION  TO  MEDICAL  JURISPRUDENCE.     533 

We  re.ad  in  the  Journal  de  Belfort,  of  the  26th  of  August, 
1843,  as  follows  : — 

"  A  nocturnal  adventure  no  less  sinojular  than  amusino;  re- 
cently  took  place  in  one  of  the  faubourgs  of  our  city. 

Case  CLXXVIII.  "  The  quartermaster  to  a  regiment  of  Af- 
rican chasseurs  stopped  at  an  inn  where  the  walls  of  the  eating- 
room  were  decorated  with  hangings  representing  the  most  glo- 
rious feats  of  arms  accomplished  by  our  young  army  on  the 
African  territory.  The  officer  gazed  admiringly  on  the  repre- 
sentation of  battles  in  which  he  had  fouîrht  ;  and  from  the  flash- 
ing  of  his  eye,  his  haughty  bearing,  and  general  agitation,  it 
was  easy  to  perceive  how  powerfully  old  recollections  were 
revived  ;  and  he  left  the  apartment,  casting  furious  glances  on 
the  soldiers  of  the  modern  Jugurtha. 

"  In  the  middle  of  the  night,  the  innkeeper  hears  a  dreadful 
uproar  in  the  eating-room.  He  hastens  down — to  see  what  ? 
the  quartermaster,  in  the  costume  of  the  hero  of  La  Mancha — 
that  is  to  say,  in  his  shirt — who,  under  an  attack  of  hallucina- 
tion, had  arisen  from  his  bed,  and,  with  a  billet  of  wood  in  his 
hand,  was  striking  right  and  left  at  the  Arabs  on  the  hangings. 
He  cleaves,  crushes,  and  mutilates  a  great  number  of  Bedouins, 
of  both  sexes.  In  his  rage  for  extermination,  he  spares  neither 
tables,  chairs,  nor  mirrors.  There  is  no  saying  how  far  this 
horrible  carnage  would  have  proceeded,  had  not  an  agent  of  the 
police  arrived,  who  explained  to  the  soldier  that  the  real  Arabs 
were  in  Africa,  while  these  were  in  France,  and — on  paper  ;  and 
that  it  was  unnecessary  to  carry  his  enthusiasm  so  far  as  to  fight 
them  in  effigy. 

"  The  quartermaster  returned  to  bed,  cursing  the  copper- 
colored  deceivers,  and,  conqueror  as  he  was,  had  nevertheless  to 
defray  the  expenses  of  the  war."* 

Hallucinations  and  illusions  are  one  of  the  most  characteristic 
symptoms  of  the  action  of  intoxicating  drinks  ;  and  w^henever 
this  is  the  case,  and  they  become  the  motives  of  an  action  accom- 
plished during  drunkenness,  they  should  be  taken  into  consider- 
ation as  an  excuse  or  extenuation.  These  sensuous  errors  at 
times  occasion  deplorable  catastrophes.  If  the  observation  of 
Freidreich  be  true,t  drunken  hallucinations  are  chiefly  noticed 

*  Univers  et  Union  Catholique,  1st  November,  1843. 
t  Freidreich,  Géricht.  Psychologie,  p.  790. 


534  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

in  weak  subjects,  of  an  irritable  and  atrabilious  temperament, 
and  would  be  less  common  in  the  robust  ;  but  tbey  would  grad- 
ually increase  with  all  drunkards. 

Case  CLXXIX.  The  individual  whose  case  we  now  state, 
was  verj  gentle  in  disposition,  and  an  excellent  workman  when 
he  had  not  been  drinking  ;  when  sober,  his  energy  in  labor  paid 
off  the  debts  he  had  contracted  during  his  drunken  fits  ;  but 
when  the  fit  was  on  him,  he  remained  sometimes  for  fifteen  days 
or  three  weeks  in  a  state  of  stupefaction  and  prostration. 

"  On  the  night  of  my  crime, "-said  he,  "I  felt  so  great  an- 
guish that  I  trembled  from  head  to  foot.  It  seemed  to  me  as  if 
a  voice  within  me  said:  '  You  must  now  beat  your  child  to  death.' 
As  so  atrocious  an  idea  had  never  entered  my  mind,  I  sprang 
out  of  bed,  raised  my  clasped  hands  to  heaven,  and  said  to  my- 
self, as  I  walked  up  and  down  the  room  :  '  Great  God  !  Lord 
Jesus!  I  must  kill  my  child  !'  No  voice  either  within  or  without 
replied,  and  I  returned  to  bed.  I  then  caressed  the  sleeping 
child,  and  said,  in  a  low  tone  :  '  Sleep,  my  beloved  child,  sleep  !' 
I  had  scarcely  lain  three  or  four  minutes,  when  the  anguish  and 
trembling  returned,  and  something  unknown  repeated,  but  more 
imperatively  than  before  :  '  Knock  your  child  on  the  head  in- 
stantly !'  I  felt  resistance  to  be  impossible.  I  rose  in  my  shirt, 
and  sought  for  a  hatchet  under  the  bed  where  my  two  little  girls 
slept.  Having  found  it,  and  grasped  the  handle,  I  returned  to 
the  bed  where  my  son  slept.  It  was  five  in  the  morning,  and 
broad  daylight,  and  I  melted  into  tears  at  the  sight  of  my  be- 
loved son,  whom  an  authoritative  voice  commanded  me  to  kill. 
I  could  not  recall  my  senses.  I  raised  the  hatchet,  and  with 
the  thick  end  struck  him  three  or  four  blows  on  the  head.  I  do 
not  know  on  what  part,  for  my  senses  were  gone.  I  only  know 
that  the  blows  followed  in  quick  succession,  that  he  struggled, 
did  not  speak,  but  groaned  heavily,  probably  because  the  first 
blow  had  mortally  Avounded  him. 

"  The  sight  of  his  blood  brought  me  somewhat  to  myself;  I 
took  the  hatchet  back  to  its  place,  and  woke  my  eldest  daughter, 
saying  :  'Charlotte,  get  up  ;  call  your  mother  ;  I  have  killed  my 
Charles  with  the  hatchet.'  She  replied  :  '  What  do  you  say,  my 
father  V  '  Yes,  yes,  call  your  mother  ;  I  have  indeed  killed  my 
little  Charles  with  the  hatchet.'  My  daughter  began  to  lament, 
and  ran  to  fetch  her  mother,  whilst  my  other  daughter,  who  had 


HALLUCINATIONS  IN  RELATION  TO  MEDICAL  JURISPRUDENCE.     535 

also  awakened,  began  to  weep.  For  myself,  I  had  attempted  to 
put  on  my  pantaloons,  but  I  sobbed  and  trembled  so  violently, 
that  I  could  not  fasten  tliem  ;  and  when  my  wife  came,  I  was 
still  attempting  to  dress  myself.  My  wife  rushed  to  the  bed,  and 
took  the  child  in  her  arms,  walking  backwards  and  forwards  with 
him  ;  but  he  soon  ceased  to  show  any  signs  of  life.  I  cannot 
conceive  how  I  could  commit  so  atrocious  a  crime  ;  I  had  such 
anguish,  such  agitation,  such  a  disturbance  in  ray  head,  and  felt 
something  so  irresistible  within  me,  that  I  was  forced  to  do  it. 
I  was  fasting — I  was  not  ill  ;  and  I  cannot  explain  how  I  was 
struck  with  so  great  a  misfortune.  I  implore  mercy,  that  I  may 
not  die  on  the  scaffold,  although  I  acknowledge  that  I  deserve  it." 

The  correctness  of  this  narration  was  fully  confirmed  on  in- 
quiry. In  an  examination  which  took  place  some  time  after- 
wards, he  stated  as  follows:  — 

"  On  two  former  occasions,  I  had  felt  this  horrible  desire  to 
kill  my  son.  .  The  first  was  six  weeks  before  Easter,  in  this  year. 
I  was  employed  during  the  winter  in  my  room  making  a  net;  my 
son,  as  usual,  was  playing  around  me  ;  he  got  on  my  back,  and 
took  me  around  the  neck.  My  wife,  thinking  that  he  disturbed 
me,  called  to  him  ;  but  I  loved  him  so  much  that  I  put  up  with 
his  fun,  and  took  him  on  my  knees  to  play  with  him.  Even  at 
this  moment,  I  heard  an  inward  voice,  saying  to  me  :  '  Do  what 
you  will,  this  boy  must  perish;  you  must  knock  him  on  the 
head.'  I  was  seized  with  such  anguish  that  my  heart  fainted 
within  me  ;  and  in  order  to  get  rid  of  so  horrible  a  thought,  I 
hastily  placed  the  child  on  the  ground,  left  the  room,  and  went 
to  the  mill,  where  I  remained  until  night,  when  my  evil  thoughts 
were  dispelled. 

"  The  second  attack  occurred  one  morning,  a  few  days  before 
Easter.  My  son  was  lying  by  my  side  ;  my  wife  was  busy  in 
the  house.  The  little  boy  asked  me  for  some  bread  ;  I  gave  him 
some  cake,  which  pleased  him  exceedingly,  and  which  he  ate 
with  avidity.  At  this  moment,  when  I  was  looking  on  the  child 
with  the  warmest  affection,  I  thought  I  heard  a  voice  within 
whisper  to  me:  'You  must  kill  your  son!'  I  shuddered;  I  felt 
a  kind  of  oppression,  which  made  my  breast  heave,  and,  full  of 
terror,  I  sprang  from  my  bed  and  ran  out  of  the  house.  I 
recited  my  prayers,  busied  myself  in  the  stable,  and  in  various 
other  ways,   and  endeavored  to   drive  away  the  terrible  idea 


536  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

that  possessed  me.  Finally,  I  succeeded  in  mastering  myself, 
recovered  in  some  degree  my  tranquillity,  and  played  again 
■with  my  child. 

"But  my  sadness  and  anguish  continued  until  near  midnight. 
I  was  not  tipsy  on  either  occasion,  nor  had  I  been  for  several 
weeks  previously,  neither  had  I  drank  on  the  third  paroxysm, 
which  cost  the  life  of  my  child."* 

Since  the  Thirty  Years'  War,  a  belief  has  existed  in  Germany 
amongst  the  inhabitants  of  a  certain  portion  of  country  on  the 
borders  of  the  Elbe,  that,  from  time  to  time,  spirits  are  seen  at 
midnight.  Mounted  on  horseback,  dressed  in  blue  uniforms, 
turned  up  with  red,  they  spread  themselves  between  two  villages. 
Not  only  do  they  inspire  with  the  greatest  terror  those  who  have 
stayed  over-late  in  the  fields,  but  they  are  said  sometimes  to 
even  wound  them.  The  people  maintain  that  they  are  the  ghosts 
of  Swedish  knights,  who,  at  the  time  of  the  war,  remained  in 
the  country,  and  the  tradition  is  so  accredited  that  no  reasoning 
can  destroy  the  belief. 

Case  CLXXX.  Two  aged  peasants,  who  had  been  intimate 
friends  from  infancy,  and  who  had  always  lived  on  the  most 
friendly  terms,  fell  victims  to  this  superstition.  They  were  en- 
gaged in  their  usual  occupations  in  the  fields,  when  night  unex- 
pectedly overtook  them.  Being  fatigued  by  labor,  they  seated 
themselves,  on  their  way  homeward,  under  a  tree  which  grew 
by  the  roadside.  Under  these  circumstances,  they  began  to 
talk  about  the  Swedish  knights,  and  their  imaginations,  excited 
by  drink,  led  to  the  impression  that  they  were  surrounded  by 
them,  and  could  only  escape  by  combat.  Each  had  a  stick,  as  is 
usual  with  peasants;  they  continued  dealing  blows  on  each 
other,  believing  they  were  striking  the  Swedish  knights,  until 
one  of  them  suddenly  disappeared.  The  other,  whose  stick  was 
broken,  picked  up  by  chance  his  friend's  hat,  imagining  that  he 
had  gained  a  complete  victory  over  the  spectres,  and  that  this 
was  the  head-piece  belonging  to  one  of  them.  Furnished  with 
this  trophy,  and  armed  with  his  broken  weapon,  he  returned 
to  the  village,  and  went  to  the  house  of  his  friend,  whose 
wife    and    daughters   were  anxiously   expecting  their  husband 

*  ]Marc,  op.  cit.  p.  618.  Ilenecke,  Annales,  vol.  viii.  Supplement, 
p.  186. 


HALLUCINATIONS  IN  RELATION  TO  MEDICAL  JURISPRUDENCE.    537 

and  father.  As  soon  as  he  had  entered,  he  exclaimed,  -with 
great  satisfaction:  "The  devils  tried  to  carry  me  off,  but 
I  have  given,  at  least  one  of  them,  such  a  beating  with  my  stick 
that  he  will  never  return."  But  the  hat  which  he  carried  soon 
caused  a  suspicion  of  the  misfortune  which  had  occurred.  The 
sons  of  the  victim  repaired  to  the  spot  where  the  old  men  had 
sat  beneath  the  tree  to  drink,  and  there  they  found  their  aged 
father  lying  dead  with  a  deep  wound  at  the  back  of  his  head, 
which  rested  on  a  pointed  stake.  With  this  exception,  his  body 
exhibited  no  external  injury. 

On  the  following  day  the  unhappy  author  of  this  homicide 
having  recovered  his  reason,  wept  bitterly,  and  expressed  the 
liveliest  regret.  During  the  summary  interrogatory,  which  he 
underwent,  he  could  say  nothing,  but  that,  having  continued 
to  drink  with  his  friend,  they  appeared  to  be  surrounded  by 
spectres  on  horseback  in  blue  regimentals  turned  up  with  red; 
and  persuaded,  on  seeing  this,  that  some  harm  would  happen  to 
them,  they  resolved  to  defend  themselves  with  their  sticks  ;  in 
consequence,  they  both  assailed  the  spirits,  recollecting  to  have 
heard  that,  if  courageously  attacked,  they  would  be  put  to  flight  ; 
■  he  added  that,  in  the  midst  of  the  combat,  he  missed  his  friend, 
and  the  spectres  also  suddenly  disappeared  ;  finding  a  hat  on 
the  ground,  he  carried  it  off;  and,  believing  that  his  friend  had 
gone  home,  he  thought  it  his  first  duty  to  call  and  inquire  how 
he  was. 

The  faculty  in  law  of  the  University  of  Holmstadt  being  con- 
sulted on  the  case,  gave  the  following  verdict  :  "  Drunkenness 
is  a  vice  to  be  shunned  by  all.  If  any  one  becomes  voluntarily 
intoxicated,  without  having  been  constrained  thereto,  and  in 
that  state  commits  a  crime,  it  shall  be  imputed  to  him,  since  he 
owes  to  himself  the  loss  of  his  reason.  The  law  has  adopted  as 
a  rule,  that  when  a  crime  has  been  committed  in  a  state  of  com- 
plete drunkenness,  the  excess  of  the  state  should  exempt  the 
culprit  from  the  usual  punishment,  excepting  in  a  case  where, 
being  restored  to  reason,  he  evinces  no  regret  for  what  he  has 
done;  such  conduct  proving  that  he  approves  of  the  act  com- 
mitted, and  would  in  all  probability  have  done  the  same  even  if 
he  had  not  been  overtaken  with  drink.  It  must  also  be  admitted, 
that  complete  drunkenness  cannot  exempt  from  ordinary  punish- 
ment in  a  case  where  lesiislation  has  decided  that  no  regard 


538  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

should  be  paid  to  it  in  fixing  the  scale  of  punishment.  On  the 
other  hand,  a  crime  committed  in  drunkenness  cannot  be  charged 
on  the  individual  when  it  has  been  produced  by  means  foreign 
to  the  "will  of  the  culprit  ;  for  example,  if  he  has  been  made  to 
drink  what  he  believed  would  not  intoxicate  him,  but  into  which 
some  drug  has  been  introduced  which  has  that  effect.  It  is 
therefore  on  these  principles  that  the  accused  must  be  judged 
and  sentenced." 

He  was  condemned  to  the  galleys  for  ten  years,  for  having 
induced  the  commission  of  the  crime  by  breaking  the  laws  of 
the  country,  which  expressly  forbid  the  people,  under  severe 
penalties,  to  be  drunk,  and  which  ordain  that  homicide  commit- 
ted in  drunkenness,  even  involuntarily,  shall  be  severely  pun- 
ished, and  shall  even  be  regarded  as  less  excusable  than  that 
crime  which  results  from  imprudence."^ 

Had  the  doctrine  of  hallucinations  and  illusions  been  better 
understood  at  the  period  and  in  the  country  where  this  event 
took  place,  and  had  the  power  of  those  phenomena  accompany- 
ing drunkenness  been  better  appreciated,  the  sentence  would 
probably  have  been  less  severe. f 

The  superficial  observer  has  much  difficulty  in  finding  the 
key  to  a  great  number  of  actions  which  appear  incomprehensible. 
The  circle  is  still  more  contracted  to  philosophers  and  moralists  ; 
but  to  the  eyes  of  the  physician,  the  thick  veil,  behind  which  so 
many  fancy  themselves  concealed,  becomes  transparent,  and 
their  faults,  passions,  vices,  and  moral  and  physical  disorders, 
exhibit  a  natural  explanation  of  their  conduct.  Thus,  for  exam- 
ple, to  confine  ourselves  to  our  subject,  hallucinations  and  illu- 
sions, better  understood  in  our  day,  have  given  a  reason  for  a 
number  of  inexplicable  actions,  attributed  to  depravity,  bad  pro- 
pensities, and  crimes. 

Amongst  cases  of  this  nature,  we  have  particularly  directed 
attention  to  melancholy  monomania  combined  with  hallucina- 
tions.    We  have  proved,  by  numerous  and  conclusive  facts,  the 

*Eisenhart,  Relation  de  Procès  remarquables,  t.  i.  p.  25.  Muller,  Méde- 
cine legale,  t.  ii.  p.  281. 

t  Convinced,  as  we  are,  that  individuals  really  insane  are  condemned  to 
painful  and  infamous  punishments,  we  suggest  that,  in  imitation  of  Eng- 
land, there  should  be  a  special  division  for  criminal  madmen  and  vagra.nt 
madmen.    Annal.  d'IIjgiène  et  de  Médecine  Legale,  t.  xsxiv. 


HALLUCINATIONS  IN  KELATION  TO  MEDICAL  JURISPRUDENCE.     539 

evidence  of  whicli  has  convinced  magistrates,  that  many  indi- 
viduals "who  have  passed  as  quarrelsome,  hot-headed,  and  even 
as  murderers,  belong  to  this  catalogue.* 

The  question  of  isolation  is  so  intimately  connected  with  our 
"work  that  we  must  say  a  few  words  on  the  subject,  although  we 
have  already  touched  on  it  in  speaking  of  treatment.  It  is 
needless  to  repeat  what  we  have  before  advanced  ;  we  will  only 
add,  that  the  hallucinated  who  are  tempted  to  suicide,  theft,  in- 
cendiarism, murder,  etc.,  should  be  sequestered.  No  proofs  are 
required  to  point  out  the  necessity  of  this  measure.  The  same 
precaution  should  be  taken  against  hallucinated  monomaniacs 
who  imagine  themselves  surrounded  by  enemies,  as  soon  -as  they 
utter  threats,  because  experience  has  demonstrated  how  instan- 
taneously they  are  driven  to  acts  of  violence  ;  but  isolation 
should  not  be  resorted  to  unless  the  hallucinations  are  of  a 
serious  character. 

An  interdiction  can  be  claimed  in  cases  of  hallucination, 
when  the  delirium  is  such  as  to  threaten  ruin  to  the  individual 
and  his  family  ;  but  this  privation  of  civil  rights  cannot  be  ex- 
ercised simply  on  account  of  a  peculiar  mode  of  living,  singular 
conduct,  strange  words,  or  a  belief  in  imaginary  circumstances, 
which  do  not  in  any  manner  compromise  the  fortune  of  the  in- 
dividual, or  expose  him  to  become  the  dupe  of  intriguers. f 

Amongst  cases  of  this  nature,  we  will  mention  a  demand  made 
by  M.  and  Mad.  D.  for  an  act  of  lunacy  against  Madlle.  D.  : — 

Case  CLXXXI.  A  young  girl,  sixteen  years  of  age,  arrived 
in  Paris  early  in  the  year  of  1786,  with  a  letter  of  introduc- 
tion from  her  family  to  a  friend.  By  one  of  those  providential 
chances,  which  can  only  be  looked  on  as  the  guidance  of 
God,  the  young  girl,  having  reached  her  destination,  rang  the 
bell  of  the  neighboring  house,  the  door  of  which  was  soon  opened 
by   a   venerable   lady,    who  inquired  what  she  desired.     The 

*  We  have  endeavored  to  diffuse  these  ideas  in  an  article  inserted  in  Le 
Droit,  29th  of  January,  1850,  entitled:  "  Of  tke  influence  of  hallucinations 
on  certain  actions  apparently  criminal." 

f  A.  Brierre  de  Boismont,  De  l'Interdiction  des  Aliénés  et  de  l'Etat 
de  la  Jurisprudence  en  matière  de  testaments  dans  l'imputation  de 
démence  ;  vfith  notes  by  M.  Isambert,  counsellor  in  the  Court  of  Cassa- 
tion, Paris,  1852  (Annal  d'IIygiéne  et  de  Médecine  Légale,  January, 
1852),     Devergie,  Médecine  Légale,  3d  edition,  1852,  t.  i.  p.  G47. 


540  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

simplicity  and  ingenuousness  of  the  young  girl  impressed  the 
old  lady  so  agreeably  that  she  was  immediately  received  into 
the  house  as  a  servant.  Her  zeal,  good  conduct,  and  intelligence 
■wrouo-ht  so  much  in  her  favor  that,  when  M.  F.,  a  distinguished 
artist  and  worker  in  bronze,  and  son  to  the  old  lady,  died  in 
1838,  he  left  to  Madlle.  D.,  as  the  most  active,  efiicient,  and 
faithful  artisan  in  his  business,  a  property  of  from  seven  to 
eight  hundred  thousand  francs. 

Then  happened  that  which  is  but  too  common  in  cases  of  this 
kind  ;  the  relatives  of  the  legatee  believed  that  her  mental  con- 
dition was  such  as  to  cause  anxiety  respecting  her,  no  less  in  the 
government  of  her  conduct  than  of  her  property.  They  chose 
to  believe  that  some  strange  habits,  perfectly  in  harmony  with 
her  modes  of  living  and  thinking,  and  some  enigmatical  and 
slightly  incoherent  conversations  were  sufficient  to  constitute  a 
state  of  dementia,  for  which  an  act  of  lunacy,  legally  pronounced, 
was  the  only  remedy. 

A  physician,  of  unimpeachable  probity  and  acknowledged 
talent,  was  appointed  by  the  relatives  of  Madlle.  D.  to  examine 
her.  He  had  recourse  to  such  stratagems  as  we  all  use,  in  order 
to  ingratiate  ourselves  with  a  person  who  is  represented  as  in  a 
state  of  alienation,  and  who  is  mistrustful.  We  are  persuaded 
that  the  barrister,  who  spoke  so  bitterly  against  our  brother, 
would  not  have  done  so,  had  he  been  better  acquainted  with  the 
character  of  Dr.  T.,  and  the  great  difficulties  which  attend  the 
interrogation  of  the  alienated.  To  refute  the  arguments,  with- 
out distributing  blame  so  plentifully,  would  have  been  but  just 
and  right. 

The  examination  by  Dr.  T.  went  to  prove  that  Madlle.  D.  had 
not  the  full  use  of  her  intellectual  faculties,  and  that  she  was 
besides  subject  to  hallucinations. 

An  action  was  commenced  before  the  tribunal  of  the  Seine. 
Madlle.  D.,  being  examined,  replied  with  judgment  and  intel- 
ligence. Once  only,  in  regard  to  a  picture,  by  Duval  Lecamus, 
she  said  that  she  perceived  the  persons  represented  in  it  to  be 
no  other  than  her  parents  ;  but  she  speedily  corrected  this  illu- 
sion, by  saying  that  she  had  heard  a  resemblance  to  them 
spoken  of. 

At  the  close  of  the  examination,  the  tribunal  gave  a  verdict 
rejecting  the  demand  of  Monsieur  and  Madame  D.  for  an  act 
of  lunacy. 


HALLUCINATIONS  IN  RELATION  TO  MEDICAL  JURISPRUDENCE.     541 

The  case  being  appealed,  Madlle.  D.  was  again  examined  ; 
her  replies  were  very  sensible,  with  the  exception  of  the  follow- 
ing: "What  is  there  to  prevent  you  from  marrying?" — "A 
supernatural  power  ;  I  cannot  tell  you  more."  Messrs.  Andral, 
Bleiny,  and  Ferrus,  who  had  been  instructed  by  the  magistrates 
to  examine  into  the  mental  condition  of  this  lady,  gave  their 
opinion  in  these  terms  : — 

"  Madlle.  D.,  aged  fifty-six,  an  old  domestic  of  M,  F.,  dealer 
in  curiosities,  is  gifted  with  a  strong,  even  a  robust  constitution, 
but  is  more  irritable  than  is  usual  in  persons  of  her  calling. 
Her  mind,  of  ordinary  capacity,  appears  naturally  upright,  but 
inclined  to  exaltation. 

"  In  character  she  is  honorable  and  just,  but  somewhat  singular. 
Her  conduct  appears  to  have  been  irreproachable  ;  we,  neverthe- 
less, think  that  it  has  not  been  so  without  some  violent  struggles. 

"  We  have  discovered  the  existence  of  some  hallucinations  in 
Madlle.  D.  dating  far  back,  perhaps  from  extreme  youth.  Hal- 
lucinations may  be  considered  one  of  the  most  striking  and 
characteristic  phenomena  of  mental  alienation  ;  but  they  do  not 
in  themselves  constitute  incontestable  mental  alienation,  nor  do 
they  always  induce  delirium. 

"Madlle.  D.  reasons  with  perfect  correctness  as  regards  her 
social  relations;  she  maintains  a  kind  of  worship  and  veneration 
for  her  old  master,  which  is  betrayed  in  all  her  words  and 
actions. 

"  We  are  of  opinion  that  the  hallucinations  of  Madlle.  D. 
may,  by  their  nature  and  long  standing,  be  looked  upon  as  con- 
stitutional, and  hence  beyond  the  resources  of  art. 

"  We  think  that  any  treatment,  founded  on  coercion,  might 
induce  the  lady  to  dissimulate  her  condition,  and  perhaps  be  the 
means  of  determining  symptoms  of  a  much  more  serious  charac- 
ter than  those  which  now  exist,  and  which  are  brought  against 
her. 

"  (Signed,)  Andral, 

Bleiny, 
Ferrus. 

"  Paris,  Uth  April,  1843.''' 

After  a  prolonged  discussion  in  the  chamber  of  council,  the 
court  confirmed  the  sentence,  which  rejected  the  claim  for  an 
act  of  lunacy  against  Madlle.  D. 


542  ON  HALLUCINATIONS. 

In  the  case  just  reported,  it  is  impossible  to  do  otherwise  than 
recognize  a  well-attested  example  of  hallucinations  and  illusions. 
The  detailed  examination  by  Dr.  T.,  and  the  opinion  of  experi- 
enced physicians,  leaves  no  doubt  on  the  subject  ;  but,  howsoever 
certain  this  fact  may  be,  it  is  no  less  true  that  they  in  nowise 
influenced  her  conduct,  that  her  actions  were  not  reprehensible, 
and  that  her  replies  to  the  interrogatories,  addressed  to  her, 
gave  no  evidence  of  derangement  ;  we,  therefore,  heartily  con- 
cur in  the  decision  of  the  court.* 

Recapitulation. — Hallucinations,  single  or  combined  with 
illusions,  may  be  the  cause  of  a  number  of  reprehensible,  dan- 
gerous, and  criminal  resolutions. 

Suicide  is  frequently  the  result  of  hallucinations,  which  exist 
in  the  form  of  apparitions,  menaces,  and  chimerical  fears. 

Blows,  wounds,  even  assassination  are  often  occasioned  by 
the  sight  of  imaginary  enemies,  by  insults,  grimaces,  and  inju- 
ries, which  only  exist  in  the  imagination  of  the  hallucinated. 

Challenges  to  a  duel  have  often  been  caused  by  these  errors 
of  the  mind. 

Hallucinated  monomaniacs,  who  believe  themselves  the  objects 
of  plots  and  persecution,  are  very  dangerous.  Many  murders 
may  be  referred  exclusively  to  them.  It  is  not  unusual  to  see 
persons  thus  hallucinated,  make  several  successive  attempts. 

In  some  cases  suicide  and  murder  are  commanded  by  invisible 
voices. 

Dangerous  actions,  incited  by  hallucinations,  are  often  the 
result  of  illusions. 

Maniacal  delirium,  acute  delirium,  and  that  which  accompa- 
nies febrile  affections,  may  occasion  both  suicide  and  homicide. 

Resolutions  and  actions,  into  which  individuals  are  drawn  by 
hallucinations,  sometimes  occur  quite  suddenly.  Night,  dark- 
ness, and  solitude  appear  to  favor  the  disposition. 

The  condition  of  sleep,  the  transition  from  sleeping  to  waking, 
and  from  waking  to  sleeping,  should  be  taken  into  consideration 
in  the  perpetration  of  the  acts. 

In  the  greater  number  of  cases,  an  attentive  examination 
will  leave  no  doubt  of  the  reality  of  an  hallucination,  which 

*  For  this  case,  see  our  Memou"  on  l'Interdiction  des  Aliénés. 


HALLUCINATIONS  IN  RELATION  TO  MEDICAL  JURISPRUDENCE.    543 

has  suddenly  appeared  ;  in  doubtful  cases,  a  prolonged  confine- 
'ment  must  be  adopted. 

Hallucinations  may  be  the  exciting  causes  of  tlieft,  incendia- 
rism, and  otter  reprelien'sible  actions. 

Illusions  produce  the  same  resolutions  and  the  same  actions 
as  hallucinations. 

The  hallucinations  and  illusions  of  delirium  tremens  merit 
much  attention  ;  they  are  almost  always  the  motives  of  actions 
committed  during  drunkenness. 

Hallucinations  and  illusions  are  the  key  to  a  great  many  in- 
comprehensible actions. 

Confinement  is  often  necessary  in  hallucinations,  but  occa- 
sionally a  contrary  course  is  indicated. 

Interdiction  should  be  pronounced  against  individuals  whose 
hallucinations  bring  ruin  on  themselves  or  their  families  ;  but  it 
should  not  be  granted  when  the  individual  is  inoffensive,  and  the 
hallucinations  are,  as  it  were,  constitutional. 

Hallucinations  present  no  obstacles  to  the  power  of  testating 
■when  they  are  of  very  long  continuance,  have  not  exercised  any 
influence  on  the  conduct,  have  not  perverted  sentiments  of  affec- 
tion, nor  prevented  the  person  from  always  fulfilling  with  pro- 
priety his  social  duties. 


INDEX. 


Abercrombie,  case  of  confusion  of 
the  senses  by  the  action  of  hallu- 
cination.— Cases  of  hallucinations 
in  dreams,  189,  190,  191,  193.— 
Case  of  day  somnambulism,  247. — 
Case  of  hallucination  in  fever,  264. 
— Case  of  hallucination  in  typhoid 
fever,  268. — Prodromes  of  diseases, 

-  278. — Case  of  hallucinations  from 
the  use  of  opium,  329 

Abstinence,  its  influence  on  halluci- 
nations, 329 

Abyssinians,caseof  lycanthropy,298 

Adrian,  villa  of,  tunnel  to  convey 
the  oracles,  111 

Age,  its  influence  on  hallucinations, 
319    _       _ 

Ajax,  his  illusion  of  sight,  107 

Aliment,  insuflSciency  of,  its  influ- 
ence on  hallucinations,  327 

Ambrose,  St.,  his  case  of  prevision, 
235 

Americans,  their  hallucinations  in 
the  delirium  of  intoxication,  164 

Analogies  of  reason  and  insanity,  40 

Anatomy,  pathological,  449 

Andral,  his  hallucination  during 
sickness,  58 

Anesthesia,  its  action  on  hallucina- 
tions, 299 

Antiochus,  collective  illusions,  108 

Antiquity,  its  belief  in  apparitions, 
66 

Aparté,  448 

Apoplexy,  hallucinations  on  the  ap- 
proach of,  243 

Apparitions,  300.  —  Case  of  Miss 
Lee,  301,  302 

Arachnites,  hallucinations  in,  262 

Arétée,  remarks  on  the  development 
of  the  senses  in  disease  and  on  the 
approach  of  death,  243,  262,  279 

35 


Arnim,  Mad.  de,  her  hallucination, 
94 

Arnold,  his  definition  of  hallucina- 
tion, 31 

Ascetism,  its  influence  on  hallucina- 
tions, 125 

Asphyxia,  influence  of  on  halluci- 
nations, 57 

Association  of  ideas,  their  influence 
on  hallucinations,  363-374 

Athanasius,  St.,  his  opinion  on  the 
communion  of  souls  after  death. 
371  _ 

Athenodorus,  his  hallucination,  66 

Atmosphere,  influence  of  in  hallu- 
cinations, 276,  326 

Attention,  its  action  on  hallucina- 
tions, 368 

Aubanel,  his  division  of  hallucina- 
tions, 34 

Augustin,  St.,  his  case  of  a  dream, 
204. — His  opinion  of  apparitions, 
372 


B. 


Bachzko,  his  hallucinations,  297 
Bacon,  acknowledges  prevision,  237 
Baillarger,  his  definition  of  halluci- 
nations,  34.  —  Hallucinations  in 
stupidity,  135  ;    his  theory  of  at- 
tention, 368  ;  his  physiology  of  hal- 
lucinations, 409 
Bar  Guest,  325 
Baudry,  his  case  of  hallucination, 

369 
Beauregard,  Father,  his   celebrated 

case  of  prevision,  237 
Belief,  desire  of,  introduction,  21 
Beliefs,  their  influence  on  illusions, 

110 
Ben  Jonson,  his  hallucinations  after 
intellectual  labor,  59 


546 


INDEX. 


Benvenuto  Cellini,  his  hallucina- 
tions, 67 

Berbiguier,  his  hallucinations,  87, 94 

Bergier,  The  Abbé,  his  doctrine  of 
hallucinations,  404 

Bernadette,  his  hallucination  ;  his 
star,  63 

Bernardin  de  Saint  Pierre,  his  opin- 
ion on  dreams,  195 

Bessus,  his  illusion,  107 

Bilious  disease  of  warm  countries, 
hallucinations  in,  269,  270 

Billod,  hallucinations  before  epilep- 
sy, 173 

Blake,  the  Seer,  his  hallucinations, 
85 

Bland,  his  definition  of  hallucina- 
tions, 33 

Bleeding  may  aggravate  hallucina- 
tions, 469 

Blind,  their  hallucinations,  84,  85. — 
Case  of  a  blind  somnambulist,  258 

Bodin,  his  hallucinations,  72 

Bonaventura  (Saint),  his  opinion  on 
hallucinations,  403 

Bossuet,  his  explanation  of  dreams, 
269 

Bostock,  his  hallucination  recog- 
nized, 41 

Bottex,  ins  hallucination  recognized, 
47 

Bordeu  speaks  but  little  of  halluci- 
nation in  catalepsy,  244 

Bovet,  his  hallucination  in  darkness, 
seen  by  two  witnesses,  69 

Brachet,  frightful  dreams  before  epi- 
leptic convulsions,  173 

Brewster,  hallucination  of  Newton, 
41 

Brillât  Lavarin,  his  observation  on 
somnambulism,  249 

Brocken  (the  giant  of  the),  105 

Brutus,  his  hallucination,  372 

Burdach,  his  opinion  on  hallucina- 
tions, 407 

Burns  (Robert),  influence  of  tales 
told  to  children  in  the  production 
of  hallucinations,  287 

Buzzing  in  ears,  analogous  sounds 
are  illusions,  81 

Byron,  his  hallucination,  66 


Cabanis,  his  remarks  on  the  excita- 
bility of  the   nervous   system   in 


hysteric  subjects. — Bo.  on  the  de- 
velopment of  the  intellectual  facul- 
ties in  certain  affections,  244,  275 
Calenture,  its  influence  on  halluci- 
nations, 133 
Calmeil,  his  definition  of  hallucina- 
tions, 33  ;  his  division,  63 
Carden,  illusions  of  sight,  112  ;  his 

hallucination,  369 
Castlereagh  (star  of),  62 
Castles  in  the  air,  favorable  to  hallu- 
cinations, 268 
Catalepsy,  hallucination  in,  245 
Cattho,  his  case  of  prevision  of  the 

death  of  Charles  the  Bold,  237 
Causes  of  hallucinations,  282  ;  moral 
causes,  285  ;  statistics,  291  ;  phy- 
sical causes,  317 
Cazotte,  his  prediction,  238 
Cerebral  (hallucinations  in  diseases), 

260 
Chardel,his  case  of  Madame  Plantin, 
257. — Cases     of     somnambulism, 
255,  256 
Charles  VI.,  collective  illusions,  109 
Charles  IX.,  his  hallucinations,  312 
Chesterfield,  his  hallucinations,  71 
Children,  epidemic  hallucinations  in, 

323 
Chlorosis  (hallucination  in),  274 
Chorea  (hallucination  in),  179 
Chronic  (hallucinations  in  diseases), 

278 
Civilization,  its  influence  on  halluci- 
nations, 309 
Clairvoyance,  251,  256 
Classification  of  hallucinations,  26 
Climates,  their  influence  on  halluci- 
nations, 324 
Colic,  metallic  (hallucination  in  the), 

179 
Collective   hallucinations,  69,  71. — 

Illusions,  108,  109,  297 
Combe,  influence  of  the  Keff,  44 
Concentration,  its  action  on  halluci- 
nations, 360 
Conditions  favorable  to  the  produc- 
tion of  hallucinations,  441 
Condorcet,     his     hallucinations     in 

dreams,  203 
Congestion  (hallucinations  in),  262 
Conolly,  hallucination  before  epilep- 
sy, 173 
Conolly,  hallucination  in  fever,  266 
Conrad  Gesner,  his  dream,  204 
Contention  of  mind,  its  influence  on 
hallucinations,  59. — Case  in  sup- 


INDEX. 


547 


port  of,  59;  hallucinations  and  il- 
lusions consequent  on,  59 

Continence,  its  action  on  hallucina- 
tions, 328 

Contradictions  occur  in  insane  sub- 
jects, 124 

Convalescence,  its  influence  on  hal- 
lucinations, 57 

Conviction  of  hallucinated  in  their 
false  sensations,  407 

Cousin  (Victor),  his  opinion  on  hal- 
lucinations, see  Preface,  vi 

Crichton,  his  definition  of  hallucina- 
tions, 32 

Cromwell,  his  hallucination,  or  his 
star,  67 

Crusades,  illusions,  collective,  110 
— Their  action  on  hallucinations, 
377 

P. 

Dangers  of  hallucinations,  503,  etseq^. 

Darkness,  its  influence  on  hallucina- 
tions, 69,  81,  287. — Its  action  on 
delirious  patients,  288 

Darvfin,  his  definition  of  hallucina- 
tions, 33 

Datura  stramonium,  its  action  on 
hallucinations,  343,  473 

Deaf,  their  hallucinations,  80 

Death,  development  of  sensibility  on 
the  approach  of,  243 

Dechambre,  his  opinion  on  halluci- 
nations as  compatible  vrith  reason, 
74  ;  his  objections  to  the  interpo- 
sition of  the  senses  in  hallucina- 
tions, 409 

Definition,  23  ;  that  of  several  au- 
thors, 23  ;  our  own,  28 

Delasiauve,  his  opinion  on  the  hallu- 
cinations of  stupidity,  139;  do.  on 
the  hallucinations  of  the  delirium 
of  intoxication,  168 

Delirium  acute,  hallucinations  in,  260 

Delirium  tremens,  hallucinations  in, 
163 

Dementia,  hallucinations  in,  152 

Demonomania,  its  influence  on  hal- 
lucinations, 126. — Sexual  inter- 
course, 128 

Demons,  their  influence  on  halluci- 
nations, 293. — A  belief  in  demons 
arises  from  the  desire  to  pass  the 
limits  of  the  visible  world,  296 

Dendy,  his  definition  of  hallucina- 
tions, 35 


Desfontaines,  his  apparition  to  Be- 
zuel,  303 

Deutéroscopie,  sight  of  one's  own 
image,  302 

Devil,  his  influence  on  hallucinations, 
126,  296 

Diagnosis  of  hallucinations,  463 

Divided  hallucination,  73. — Case  of 
Bodin,  72 

Division  of  hallucinations,  35 

Dreams,  hallucinations  in,  188,  190, 
204,  205. — Psychical  or  intuitive 
dreams,  202. — Hallucinations  in 
dreams,  forerunners  of  disease, 
204.— Case,  205.— Case  of  revela- 
tion in  a  dream,  204,  359,  438 

Drunkards,  hallucinations  of,  164 

Dubuisson,  his  adventure  with  Ge- 
neral Mallet,  84 

Dyce,  of  Aberdeen,  his  case  of  som- 
nambulism, 250 


E. 


Eclampsia  (hallucination  in),  173 

Ecstasy,  hallucinations  in,  212. — 
Case  of  Jean  Engelbrecht,  214; 
physiological  ecstasy,  morbid  ec- 
stasy, 215  ;  cataleptic  ecstasy,  217  ; 
hysteric,  218. — Case,  the  ecstatic 
of  Voray,  219  ;  the  ecstatic  of  the 
Vosges,  223. — Case,  mystic  ecsta- 
sy, 224. — Case  of  the  Scarred 
Maiden  of  Tyrol,  225  ;  ecstasy  of 
the  insane,  229  ;  epidemic  ecstasy, 
230,  231,  286  ;  ecstasy  common 
among  primitive  nations,  232  ; 
ecstatic  visions  of  cold  countries, 
243  _      _ 

Education,  its  influence  on  halluci- 
nations, 286,  293,  294 

Emotions,  sensual  and  sentimental; 
their  influence  on  hallucinations, 
293 

Encephalitus  (hallucination  in),  263 

English  opium-eater,  his  hallucina- 
tion, 329 

Epidemic  illusions,  35  ;  of  night- 
mare, 186 

Epidemic  (hallucinations  nocturnal), 
134;  hallucinations  in  ecstatics, 
216 

Esquirol,  his  definition  of  hallucina- 
tion, 32  ;  his  division,  36  ;  his  sta- 
tistics of  hallucinations,  119 


548 


INDEX. 


Etoc  Demazy,  his  remarks  on  the 
hallucination  of  stupidity,  135 

Events  political,  their  influence  on 
hallucinated  persons,  291 

External  hallucinations,  80 


F. 


Fear,  its  influence  on  illusions,  106  ; 
on  hallucinations,  310 

Ferdinand  Denis,  note  on  illumi- 
nism,  213  ;  on  ecstasy,  232 

Ferriar,  his  definition  of  hallucina- 
tion, 32. — Case  of  hallucination  in 
dreams,  193  ;  second  sight,  243. — 
Case  of  hallucination  produced  by 
the  moon,  290 

Fever,  hallucinations  in,  264;  hallu- 
cinations in  the  three  degrees  of 
Conolly,  265 

Ficinus,  his  apparition  to  Mercatus, 
304 

Florentines,  their  illusion,  109 

Flying,  sensation  of,  94,  120,  182 

Foville,  his  definition  of  hallucina- 
tion, 33  ;  his  opinion  on  patholo- 
gical anatomy,  453,  454 

Fox  (George),  his  hallucinations, 
393 


G. 


Galen,  his  dream,  203 

Gardiner,  his  dream,  305 

General  hallucination,  97 

Géramb  (de),  his  hallucination,  65 

Goethe,  his  hallucination,  67  ;  his 
hallucination  of  flying,  94 

Gout,  hallucinations  in,  273 

Grief,  its  influence  on  insanity,  122 

,  on  suicide,  124 

Guillon  (l'Abbé),  his  case  of  halluci- 
nation of  a  duellist,  313 


H. 

Hallucinations  compatible  with  rea- 
son, 40  ;  produced  by  the  sun,  ex- 
periment by  Newton,  41. — Physio- 
logical, corrected  by  the  under- 
standing, non-corrected,  soundness 
of  reason  in  both  cases,  60  ;  at 
will,  60;  instantaneous,  47  ;  col- 
lective, 69,  108,  377  ;  divided,  73  ; 


external  and  internal  80  ;  sympto- 
matic, 147  ;  hypnagogical,  204  ; 
their  difference  according  to  the 
case,  358;  their  mode  of  reproduc- 
tion without  the  concurrence  of  the 
senses,  365. — They  are  reminis- 
cences, the  reproduction  of  habit- 
ual ideas,  373  ;  general,  97  ;  indi- 
vidual, 380  ;  psycho-sensorial,  psy- 
chical, 409 

Hallucinations  in  themselves  insane, 
simple,  76. — Fully  carried  out  in 
the  alienated,  87.  —  Differences 
which  separate  them  from  those 
compatible  with  reason,  92.  —  Of 
hearing,  77.— Of  sight.  81.  — Of 
touch,  92.— Of  smell,  94.— In  re- 
lation to  illusions,  103. — In  mono- 
mania, 119. — In  stupidity,  135. — 
In  mania,  141. — In  dementia,  152. 
— In  general  paralysis,  159. — In 
imbecility,  162. — In  delirium  tre- 
mens, 163. — In  nervous  diseases 
other  than  insanity,  170. — In  hys- 
teria, 174,  175,  218.— In  hypo- 
chondria, 176. — In  febrile,  inflam- 
matory, acute,  chronic,  and  other 
diseases,  260. — Inhypera3mia,  262. 
— In  the  hemorrhoides,  272. — In 
the  prodromes,  277.  —  In  hectic 
diseases,  278. — Pure  are  as  rare  as 
pure  monomania,  395 

Hallucinations  of  historical  charac- 
ters, 20. — Our  opinion  on  the  sub- 
ject, 351,  396 

Hallucinations,  conditions  favorable 
to  their  production,  441 

Hallucinations  in  a  medico-legal 
point  of  view,  100,  499.— Their 
influence  on  actions,  100,  101, 
502.  —  Danger  accompanying  hal- 
lucination, 343 

Harrington,  his  hallucination,  83 

Haschisch,  its  influence  on  halluci- 
nations, 333 

Hearing,  hallucinations  of,  77. — Case 
of  the  prefect,  of  Esquirol,  77. — 
Case,  80 

Heart,  hallucinations  in  diseases  of 
the,  274 

Hereditary  hallucinations,  318 

Herbert,  his  hallucination,  306 

Hibbert,  his  definition  of  hallucina- 
tion, 32. — His  opinion  on  the  ap- 
paritions of  Holy  Writ,  401 

Ilildebrand,  case  of  hallucinations 
in  typhus,  268 


INDEX. 


549 


Hippocrates,    hallucinations    in    ty- 
phus, 267 
History,  of  the  hallucinations  of,  351 


I. 


Ideal,  hallucination  is  the  material 
reproduction  of  the,  45 

Ideas,  their  influence  on  hallucina- 
tions, 83. — On  illusions,  109. — On 
death,  283. — Their  sensual  and 
spiritual  nature,  360. — Spiritual 
ideas,  how  they  may  supply  hallu- 
cinations, 364 

Ideas,  false  ;  their  influence  on  hal- 
lucinations, 293,  307,  375 

Ideas,  insane  ;  their  action  on  hallu- 
cinations, 359 

Ideler,  his  judgment  on  hallucina- 
tions, 392 

Ignorance  ;  its  influence  on  halluci- 
nations, 106 

Illuminism. — Note  on,  214 

Illusions,  103. — Induce  the  belief 
that  the  senses  are  not  reliable, 
103.— Their  character,  104.— 
Transformation  of  objects  into 
spectres  and  figures,  106. — Case  of 
a  mast  taken  for  a  corpse,  106. — 
May  be  exhibited  in  an  epidemic 
form,  107. — Illusions,  collective, 
107. — Case  of  warriors  in  the  air, 
107, 108,  109.— Explanation  of  col- 
lective illusions,  110. — Illusions  of 
hearing,  111 

Illusions  recognized  as  false,  112. — 
All  the  senses  may  be  the  seat  of 
illusions,  113. — Illusions,  their  in- 
fluence on  actions,  115 

Illusions  of  sight,  113. — Illusions  of 
touch  115. — Illusions  of  smell,  115. 
— Illusions  of  taste,  115. — Illusions 
may  be  transformed  into  halluci- 
nation, or  vice  versa,  146. — Symp- 
toms, 438  • 

Imagination,  its  influence  on  hallu- 
cinations, 285,  286,  290,  375 

Imbecility,  hallucinations  in,  162 

Imitation,  its  influence  on  hallucina- 
tions, 110,  444 

Impression,  distressing,  of  hallucina- 
tions, 48 

Impressions  powerful,  their  influence 
on  hallucinations,  106 

Impressions  sensorial,  how  they  act 
in  the  brain,  357 


Inclining  the  head,  act  of,  58. — Case 
of,  58 

Incubes,  319 

Insanity  of  drunkards,  its  influence, 
164 

Insensibility,  299 

Instantaneous  hallucination  may  be 
produced,  47. — Cases,  47,48 

Internal  hallucinations,  80,  85 

Intermittent  hallucinations  in  fevers, 
269 

Isolation,  its  influence  on  hallucina- 
tions, 59 

Isolated  hallucinations,  45 


Jerome,  Saint,  his  hallucination  of 
flying,  94 

Joan  of  Arc,  her  hallucination,  387 

Johnson,  Dr.,  66 

Josephus,  n.,  collective  cases  of 
illusion,  108. — His  case  of  previ- 
sion, 234 

Julian,  his  hallucination,  310,  373 

K. 

Keff,  influence  of  on  hallucinations, 
44 


Langlet  Dufresnoy,  his  remarks  on 

apparitions,  289 

Last  judgment,  book  of,  explanation 
given  by  some  authors,  367 

Lélut,  his  definition  of  hallucina- 
tion, 33. — His  doctrine  of  hallu- 
cinations, 352 

Leuret,  his  definition  of  hallucina- 
tion, 33. — His  division,  36. — His 
hallucinations  in  a  state  of  weak- 
ness, 58. — Ecstasy  of  the  alien- 
ated, 230. — His  doctrine  of  hallu- 
cinations, 397. — Objections  to  his 
system,  491. — Danger  of  his  sys- 
tem, 492 

Lorry,  his  two  cases  of  somnambu- 
lism, 249 

Louandre,  Ch.,  his  opinion  of  hallu- 
cinations, 390 

Loyola,  his  hallucinations,  380 

Luther,  his  hallucinations,  383 

Lycanthropy,  its  influence  on  hallu- 
cinations and  illusions,  134,  298. 
—Case,  298 


550 


INDEX. 


M. 


Macario,  hallucinations  in  demono- 
mania,  319 

Machiavel,  admits  prevision,  236. — 
Case  of  prevision,  237 

Magic,  its  influence  on  hallucina- 
tions, 297 

Magnetism  ;  The  possessed,  insane 
persons  vrho  see  what  passes 
within  them,  85. — Hallucinations 
in,  233 

Maistre,  de,  admits  prevision,  236 

Maladies  mental,  their  action  on 
hallucinations,  345 

Maladies  nervous,  other  than  insan- 
ity, their  action  on  hallucinations, 
347 

Maladies  of  different  kinds,  their 
action  on  hallucinations,  348 

Malebi'anche,  his  explanation  of 
false  ideas,  introduction,  18. — 
His  hallucination,  66. — His  ex- 
planation of  sensations,  366 

Mania,  hallucinations  in,  141 

Manoury,  his  hallucination  of  Ur- 
bain Grandier,  311 

Marathon,  illusions  of  sight,  108 

Marc,  his  hallucinations  of  sight, 
smell,  and  taste,  119 

Marcel,  his  observations  on  the  hal- 
lucinations of  drunken  delirium, 
164 

Mathey,  case  of  recognized  halluci- 
nation, 48. — Case  of  lycanthropy, 
299 

Maury,  Al.,  his  hypnagogical  hallu- 
cinations, 189. — Hallucinations  in 
periodical  dreams,  189 

Medicine,  legal,  hallucinations  con- 
sidered in  point  of  view  of,  497;  , 

Meister,  his  opinion  on  the  state  be- 
tween sleeping  and  waking,  42 

Memory,  its  action  on  hallucina- 
tions, 374 

Meningitis,  hallucinations,  263 

Meningitis,  cerebro-spinal,  halluci- 
nations in,  264 

Michéa,  his  definition  of  hallucina- 
tions, 34. — Hallucinations  divided, 
419 

Michelet,  his  appreciation  of  hallu- 
cinations, 392 

Middle  Ages,  influence  of  hallucina- 
tions on  the,  1,  309 

Mirage,  its  action  on  hallucinations, 
326 


Mohammed,  appreciation  of  his  hal- 
lucinations, by  Dr.  Renauldin,  398 

Molènes,  Paul  de,  influence  of  reve- 
rie on  hallucinations,  45 

Monomania,  hallucinations  in,  119 

Moreau,  of  la  Sarthe,  case  of  halluci- 
nation in  ataxical  fever,  267 

Moreau,  of  Tours,  his  observations 
on  the  hallucinations  of  Haschish, 
339. — His  hallucinations  at  will, 
370       _ 

MuUer,  his  opinion  of  the  senses,  409 

Mysticism,  306 

Mystic  ecstasy,  224. — Mystic  ideas 
favorable  to  hallucinations,  300 


N. 

Napier,  Richard,  his  hallucinations, 

297 

Napoleon,  his  belief  in  his  star,  61 

Narcotics,  their  action  on  hallucina- 
tions, 344 

Nervous  system,  its  influence  on  hal- 
lucinations, 282 

Nervous  hallucinations  in  diseases, 
163     _ 

Neuralgia,  hallucinations  in,  179 

Newton,  hallucinations  produced  by 
concentrating  the  rays  of  the  sun, 
41    _ 

Nicolai,  the  librarian,  his  hallucina- 
tions, 53 

Night,  its  influence  on  hallucina- 
tions, 287,  311 

Nightmare,  The,  25. — As  in  dreams, 
consciousness  may  exist  that  the 
events  passing  are  unreal,  184. — 
Epidemic  hallucinations,  186,  311 

North,  beliefs  of  the,  their  influence 
on  hallucinations,  133 

Nostalgia,  its  influence  on  halluci- 
nations, 287 


0. 


Obscurity,  its  influence  on  illusions, 
110,  186 

Ointments,  their  influence  on  hallu- 
cinations and  illusions,  130 

Old  Nick,  325 

Organs,  their  action  on  hallucina- 
tions, 352. — Refutation  of  this  ex- 
clusive doctrine,  354 

Orient,  its  influence  on  reverie,  44 


INDEX. 


551 


Panic  fear,  108 

Paralysis,  general,  its  influence  on 
actions,  143. — Hallucinations  in, 
159 

Parchappe,  his  definition  of  halluci- 
nations, 34 

Paterson,  his  division  of  hallucina- 
tions, 37. — Case  of  recognized  hal- 
lucination, 55. — Case  of  struggles 
of  mind,  59 

Pellagra  (hallucination  in),  274 

Penitentiary  (system),  its  influence 
on  hallucinations,  288 

Phenomena,  psycho-sensorial,  of  hal- 
lucinations, 413 

Phenomena,  sensorial,  of  hallucina- 
tions, 418,  424 

Physiology  of  hallucinations,  409 

Places,  their  influence  on  hallucina- 
tions, 419 

Platea,  illusions  of  hearing,  108 

Pliny,  his  case  of  illusions,  108 

Pneumonia  (hallucinations  in),  270 

Pope,  his  hallucination,  67 

Poqueville,  his  case  of  hallucination 
from  opium,  332 

Possessed,  The,  their  hallucinations, 
85 

Preoccupations,  their  influence  on 
hallucinations,  315 

Presentiments,  195 

Prevision,  234. — Case  of  Josephus 
relative  to  the  peasant  Jesus,  234 

Prevision,  its  influence  on  hallucina- 
tions, 287 

Procopius,  hallucinations  of  demons, 
268 

Prodromes  of  hallucinations,  76 

Prognosis  of  hallucinations,  454 

Progress  of  hallucinations,  445,  461 

Psychical  (hallucinations),  446 

Psychology,  its  influence  on  halluci- 
nations, 351 

Psycho-sensorial,  psychical  (halluci- 
nations), 409 


R. 


Rage  (hallucinations  in),  179 
Ranee  (de),  his  hallucination,  64 
Ravaillac,  his   illusion   of  hearing, 

114 
Rayer,  hallucinations  in  typhoid  fe- 
ver, 267 


Recognized  hallucination,  99 

Recollections  of  Madame  de  Crequi. 
— Case  of  presentiment,  201 

Religion,  its  influence  on  hallucina- 
tions, 351,  400 

Remorse,  its  influence  on  illusions, 
106,  311,  312,  314 

Pi.epetition,  voluntary,  of  the  same  ac- 
tions, 316 

Reverie,  its  action  on  hallucinations, 
42  (influence  of  the  East  on),  44 


S. 


Sabbath  (note  on  the),  298 

Sacy  (de),  his  explanation  of  hallu- 
cination, 195 

Sanguine  (system),  its  influence  on 
hallucinations,  284 

Sauvage,  his  definition  of  hallucina- 
tion, 32 

Serairamis,  her  hallucination,  311 

Senile  hallucination  in  dementia, 
152 

Senses  (part  they  play),  103  ;  their 
intervention  in  hallucinations,  409 

Sensations  may  become  confused  by 
the  influence  of  hallucinations, 
59  ;  abnormal,  may  become  the 
origin  of  a  melancholy  afl'ection, 
113 

Sensibility,  its  development  in  cer- 
tain cases,  195  ;  hearing  vronder- 
fully  acute,  196  ;  do.,  smell,  its 
development;  sensibility  on  the 
approach  of  death,  243  ;  of  the  de- 
velopment of  the  senses,  244,  256. 
— The  prisoner  of  Angers  d'Huy- 
gens,  the  young  musician  of  M. 
Vincent,  256;  other  cases,  274,  316 

Sexes,  their  influence  on  hallucina- 
tions, 319 

Sexual  (intercourse),  observed  in  de- 
monomania,  128,  132 

Sigmond,  his  opinion  on  the  super- 
natural, 60  ;  his  case  of  presenti- 
ment, 199 

Silvio  Pellico,  his  hallucination,  287 

Simonides,  his  hallucination  in  a 
dream,  194 

Sleeplessness,  characteristics  of  hal- 
lucinations in,  361 

Smell,  the  hallucinations  of,  94 

Socrates,  his  hallucination,  399 

Solitude,  its  influence  on  hallucina- 
tion, 325, 363 


552 


IXDEX. 


Somnambulism  (hallucinations  in), 
244. — Case,  245  ;  day  somnambu- 
lism, 246. — Case,  246  ;  influence 
of  somnambulism  on  actions,  248. 
—Case,  249.— Case,  Madame  Plan- 
tin,  251  ;  explanation  of  somnam- 
bulism, 256 

Sorcerers,  their  hallucination  of 
touch,  93. — Their  presence  at  the 
Sabbath  purely  visionary,  297 

Spinello,  his  hallucination  of  the 
devil,  87,  296 

Spirits,  belief  in  ;  its  influence  on 
hallucinations;  introduction,  1, 
300 

Star  of  great  men,  vrhat  is  meant  by, 
60. — Case  of  Napoleon,  61. — Case 
of  Lord  Castlereagh,  61. — Case  of 
Bernadotte,  64. — Case  of  Crom- 
well, 68 

State,  hallucinatory,  438 

State,  intermediate  between  sleeping 
and  waking,  42,  437 

State,  morbid,  its  influence  on  hal- 
lucinations, 52 

Statistics  of  hallucinations,  117. — 
In  monomania,  118. — In  stupidity, 
135. — In  mania,  141. — In  demen- 
tia 152. — In  general  paralysis,  159. 
— In  delirium  tremens,  161 

Stupidity,  hallucinations  in,  134 

Substances  causing  hallucinations  in 
initiations,  344 

Succubes,  319 

Supernaturalism,  opinion  of  M. 
Guizot,  Preface,  ix 

Superstition,  its  influence  on  hal- 
lucinations, 286,  295 

Supernatural,  The,  is  found  in  the 
lives  of  all  celebrated  characters, 
59 

Swedenborg,  celebrated  illuniinist, 
his  hallucinations,  214  ;  his  opi- 
nion on  magnetism,  233 

Sympathy,  its  influence  on  halluci- 
nations, 71,  196 

Symptomatic  hallucinations  and  illu- 
sions, 146 

Symptimiatology  of  hallucinations, 
395,  434 

Syncope,  its  influence  on  halluci- 
nations, 57. — Hallucination  in, 
274 

Seaf  kovvski,  his  definition  of  hallu- 
cination, 34. — Case  of  hallucina- 
tion in  typhoid  fever,  268 


T. 


Talma,  changed  spectators  into  ske- 
letons, 47 

Talleyrand  Perigord,  his  case  of  pre- 
sentiment, 199 

Tartini,  his  devil's  sonata,  202 

Tasso,  his  hallucination,  316 

Taste,  hallucinations  of,  95 

Temperament,  its  influence  on  hal- 
lucinations, 323 

Theodoric,  his  illusion,  107 

Theophilus  Gautier,  his  description 
of  Haschisch,  339 

Thierry,  recital  of  collective  illusion, 
184 

Thoré,  hallucinations  in  children, 
323 

Thucydides,  hallucinations  in  the 
plague  of  Athens,  268 

Tingling  in  the  ear,  113 

Touch,  hallucinations  of. — Case  of 
Mathews,  93. — Case  of  the  veteran 
of  Calmeil,  93. — Case  of  an  Eng- 
lishman, 93 

Treatment  of  hallucinations,  461 

Typhoid  fever,  hallucinations  in,  268 


U. 


Ulysses,  his    companions    changed 
into  swine,  298 


Vampyrism,  its  influence  on  halluci- 
nations and  illusions,  134,  307 

Vanhelmont,  his  dream  of  the  soul, 
205 

Viardot,  his  remarks  on  the  halluci- 
nations of  drunken  delirium,  161 

Vigny,  Alfred  de,  his  opinion  on  the 
two  kinds  of  reverie,  42 

Visionaries,  81 

Visions,  81 

Voltaire,  his  hallucinations  in  a 
dream,  189 

Vouivre,  popular  belief  in  the,  325 


W. 

Walter  Scott,  case  of  the  physician, 
■whose  patient  continually  saw  a 


INDEX. 


553 


skeleton,  49. — His  remarks  on  the 
analogy  of  dreams  and  hallucina- 
tions, 189. — Case  of  somnambu- 
lism, 189. — His  vision  of  somnam- 
bulism, 191. — His  vision  of  Byron, 
289. — Case  of  remorse,  313 

Weakness,  its  influence  on  halluci- 
nations, 57. — Case  of  Leuret. — Do. 
case  of  Andrei,  58 

Westmoreland  illusions,  the  effect  of 
light,  106 

Wigan,  his  case  of  the  painter  who 
evoked  models  at  will,  46. — Case 


of  recognized  hallucinations  hav- 
ing caused  death,  48. — Case,  illu- 
sion, 106 

Will,  its  influence  on  the  production 
of  hallucinations,  46. — Case  of  the 
painter,  46. — Case  of  Talma,  47. 
— Hallucinations  produced  by  will 
may  exist  without  its  concurrence, 
60,  369,  370.— Case  of  Blake,  85 

Wills,  influence  of  hallucinations  on, 
102 


THE      END. 


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